Full House
by BethSHeartbeat
Summary: Co-written by Georgy-Girl. When a fire causes Robyn and Lofty to move in with Max and Zoe, nothing can ever be the same again.
1. Chapter 1

Zoe slid her heels off as she entered the house. After a double shift, all she wanted to do was curl up on the couch with a glass of wine, but when she reached the couch she found it covered in unfamiliar clothing. As she opened her mouth to call out to Max, Robyn appeared with a smile. "Sorry! Just trying to organise all my things and wash everything that smells of smoke."

"Smoke?"

"...Max didn't tell you, did he?"

"Of course he did, sorry I'd just forgotten. Been a busy day, I'm sure you know the days I'm on about." Zoe explained, trying to hide the fact that she had no idea what was currently going on.

"Good, I was worrying that it was going to be awkward if he hadn't told you that we're staying for a while."

"Where is Lofty?" Zoe asked, cottoning on to the fact that Robyn wasn't alone in staying.

"At the washing machine, Max had no idea how to work it so he's trying to figure it out."

Zoe looked around, unsure of where to place herself in her own house. Her grip on her wine glass tightened as she looked around the room and silently cursed herself for not having realised that there was items laying all around that belonged to neither her nor Max. "Where is Max?" Zoe asked Robyn, who was folding her clothes.

"Upstairs."

Zoe made her way upstairs and paused in the bedroom doorway to look at Max, who was currently lying face first on the bed.

"Were you actually planning on telling me, or were you just hoping I wouldn't notice?"

Max gave a groan and rolled over, rubbing his face tiredly. "I thought you might have heard elsewhere about what a hero I was so I wouldn't have to explain."

"You're a hero?"

"He is!" Robyn offered as she passed the main bedroom on the way to the spare. "Our house was on fire and he rushed in to save Lofty's precious bloody computer."

"You risked your life to save a computer?!" Zoe whispered angrily after checking to see that Robyn had gone, and shutting the main bedroom door.

"Like I said, I'm a hero." Max told her, sitting up on the bed and moving over slightly so that Zoe could sit down beside him. "You look stressed." Max commented as Zoe sat down on the bed and placed her untouched glass of wine on the bedside cabinet.

"Well wouldn't you be if you'd just worked a double shift, lost a woman in their 20s and had to deal with several hours of paperwork. The only thing that got me through was the thought of chilling out with you and a bottle of wine when I got back, instead I come home to find your sister and best mate have moved in."

"I'll run you a bath."

"I don't want a bloody bath. Couldn't they have gone to a hotel?"

"Probably. Like that time you went to live on Dylan's boat- you could have stayed in a hotel then, but luckily for you someone cared enough to stop that happening. I'm sorry you had a bad day, but I haven't had the best one myself, and I was just trying to do some friends a favour. I'm going to run you a bath."

Before Zoe could reply, Max disappeared out the door.

...

"Do you think Zoe will mind if I have some of her wine?" Robyn asked Lofty as they sat in the kitchen.

"Probably."

"I'll just have one glass, then."

"One for me too, please!"

Two glasses soon turned to a bottle as the two friends sat in front of the TV.

"Have you ever seen a TV so big?" Robyn asked, before letting the last of the wine in the glass slip down her throat.

"I think we're out of wine Robyn." Lofty commented as he went to refill her glass, only to find that the bottle was empty.

"Zoe is going to kill us."

...

"What's wrong?" Zoe asked as she lay in the bath, while Max sat on the edge.

"What?" Max hadn't been listening, he'd been in a world of his own.

"What's wrong? You said you'd had a bad day and now you're distracted, and not by me."

"It's nothing Zo', just relax. Anyway, aren't you angry with me?"

"I haven't got the energy to be angry with you right now, I'll get to that later. Why were you over at Robyn's earlier, it's the other side of Holby?"

Max gave a slight shrug. "Just visiting another friend and I happened to drive past."

"Which friend?" Zoe rested further back into the bath, studying Max's face.

"I'm going to go downstairs and sort something out for dinner." Max bent forward and dropped a kiss to Zoe's forehead before leaving the room.


	2. Chapter 2

"Guys that was her last bottle!" Max sighed as he spotted the empty bottle. He hesitated before grabbing his car keys. "I'd better go out."

"Oh, can you get us some biscuits?" Asked Lofty, pushing himself up.

"And something for dinner, I'm starving." Robyn added.

With a grunt, Max left the house.

"Where's Max gone?" Zoe asked as she walked down stairs in a dressing gown with her hair half dry and curling at the bottom slightly. Even when she'd stayed at Max's old house, Robyn and Lofty had never seen her like this but she just didn't have the energy to properly dry her hair or put a little make up on just before she went to bed.

"He's just popped to the shop to buy something for dinner." Lofty told her, moving over a little so that there was room on the sofa for Zoe. Instead she walked towards the kitchen in search of her wine, only to find none, before her eyes fell upon the empty bottle laying by the sofa. Taking a deep breath, she went and sat on the sofa and tried to act casually so they didn't notice her annoyance at them being present, her anger at Max for not telling her and her worry about him.

"How are you both doing?" Zoe asked.

"Fine." Lofty supplied.

Rolling her eyes, Robyn looked to Zoe. "Terrible, actually. Everything we didn't lose smells so strongly of smoke it's probably all ruined. The only thing that came out unharmed was Lofty's laptop. He's writing a story on it."

"It's not a story, Robyn, it's a novel, and I've been working on it for years."

"He was sobbing by the time Max showed up, that's why Max went in. You should have seen the state of him when he came out. All I could see were his eyes, and they were all watery." Robyn supplied. "Oh, and sorry about the wine. We didn't realise it was the last bottle or we wouldn't have touched it."

"Don't worry it sounds like you needed it more than I did, I'll just ring Max and ask me to pick a bottle up. I'm sorry you lost everything, do you know what started the fire?" Zoe asked, realising that she could maybe find out what Max was doing out.

"You don't need to ring him, he knows that we finished the wine, that's why he's gone out." Robyn replied.

"We don't know what caused the fire, I think they're investigating. It was a good job Max was there though, Robyn and I were just panicking." Lofty answered.

"Yeah, it was good timing for him just to be passing." Zoe started, hoping that the two nurses would give her something to go off.

"I know. Maddie may be a pain, but she has her uses."

"Maddie?" Zoe asked, hoping her voice didn't sound as worried to them as it did to her. Thankfully Robyn didn't seem to notice and was about to reply when she caught Lofty's eye and he shook his head slightly.

"...You know, I might go and ring the landlord again and see if he's picking up yet." Robyn made a quick exit, leaving Lofty sat in awkward silence.

"...So, your place is nice. I really appreciate you letting us stay here, it shouldn't be for long."

"Thanks..." Zoe replied, unsure of what else to say as to say as multiple thoughts whizzed around in her head, making it hurt slightly.

…

"I'm back. How does everyone fancy a nice curry?" Max asked as he placed several ready meals down on the counter, as well as a packet of biscuits and a bottle of wine.

"I'm not hungry, I'm just going to take the bottle and go up to bed. You guys enjoy it and sleep well." Zoe spoke, feeling awkward in her own home as she grabbed the bottle of wine and disappeared to her bedroom.

"Where's Zoe gone?" Robyn asked as she appeared back in the room, only to find Zoe gone and Max and Lofty trying to dish up curry.

"To bed, what did the landlord say?" Lofty asked.

"Nothing new." Robyn replied but suddenly she was more bothered about how Zoe was, especially after she'd mentioned Maddie. "Have you checked on Zoe, Max?"

"No? She's had a long day and she's tired, I'll just let her sleep and then climb into bed later."

"..Well maybe you should check on her, just to make sure she doesn't want anything to eat? It does smell amazing."

"Alright, alright! I'll go and ask her." Max walked to the bedroom, knocking gently on the door. When he heard no response, he pushed open the door to find Zoe resting against the headboard with an almost overflowing glass of wine in her hand and she flicked through TV stations, unable to concentrate.

"You know, this is my favourite version of Zoe Hanna. No make-up, slightly curling hair, a silky dressing gown and a smile her face."

"I'm not smiling."

"Ah, but I bet I can make you." Max sat on the edge of the bed.

"You're very sure of yourself, now can you go away Max. I want to be on my own and you have a meal to eat and friends down there."

"I thought you had no energy to be angry. You'd calmed earlier, what's wrong now?" He asked, his patience wearing thin.

"Well I changed my mind, go away."

"Not until you tell me what's wrong!" Max replied, taking the TV remote from her hand and turning it off before perching on the side of the bed.

"I'm not in the mood for games Max, just go away."

"Stop running Zo', talk to me."

"Maybe you should talk to Maddie instead."

Max paused for a minute, then nodded. "You know, I would, but she's not old enough to talk yet. There's more food downstairs if you're hungry."

Before Zoe could ask anything, Max had left the room.


	3. Chapter 3

"Is she coming?" Robyn asked as soon Max appeared.

"Who knows? Right, are we ready? I say curry, beer and a good movie."

As Lofty agreed and followed Max to the lounge, Robyn hesitated and looked towards the main bedroom. Finally deciding it wasn't her place to talk, Robyn followed the boys.

…

For a while Zoe just lay in bed, the bottle of wine abandoned at her side. She wanted to cry but her eyes remained dry, confusion was the feeling that seemed to be dominating her. Whilst it was becoming increasingly obvious that Max wasn't cheating on her, she was still in the dark to who Maddie was.

When she'd woken up, curled up in Max's arms, she hadn't expected to return to home later to find Robyn and Lofty in her house. A fire had been the last thing she'd been expecting, and now her normally care free partner seemed to be in a bad mood and then there was the unexplained existence of Maddie.

Her tummy rumbled slightly, she'd lied when she'd said that she wasn't hungry but now she didn't know whether she could bring herself to face Max and her house guests.

...

"Slow down Max." Robyn warned as he finished another can of beer.

"Who mentioned Maddie?" He asked looking between Lofty and Robyn.

As Robyn gave a guilty smile, Max sighed. "Robyn! How many times do you have to put your foot in it before you stop gossiping! I'm not going to tell any anything anymore, it's not worth it." Max opened another beer and almost finished it in one gulp. His usual instinct to make sure Zoe was ok was fighting with his knowledge that him answering her questions might just upset her more.

"I'm sorry, Max. I wasn't thinking. Maybe you need to go to bed, you've had a long day."

"You just want me to go to bed so I'll talk to Zoe. We're not some sort of-" Max stopped when Zoe entered the room with an empty wine bottle.

"Don't stop on my account." She walked past them towards the kitchen.

"Zoe."

"I'm just going to get some food and head back through so I won't disturb you long." She replied bluntly.

"You hate me eating in the bedroom, you hate crumbs getting in the bed."

"Well I don't care tonight, I'd rather not hear whatever you have to say about me."

"I think I'm going to go to bed, night guys." Robyn spoke up as she decided she no longer wanted to be in the room.

"It's getting a little late, I think you have the right idea." Lofty said as he too stood up, and left the room.

"I wasn't going to say anything bad, god Zoe I wouldn't. You're difficult as hell sometimes, especially when you're exhausted and stressed but I love you."

"Not enough to tell me about what's going on in your life." She sighed. Max stared at her slightly, before he took the few steps necessary to close the gap between them.

"You want to know who Maddie is?" Zoe nodded, not trusting herself to speak. "...When I was in college, I fell into a bad crowd and I got pretty messed up. When I decided it wasn't the life for me, no one seemed willing or able to help. Except one girl. She let me move in to her tiny flat, she helped me find a job and she got me back on track. We were just friends, nothing more. After college, I lost touch with her. She wasn't the sort to have a mobile or anything, and she usually just popped up out of nowhere after weeks of silence. I finally got a call about 2 months ago- remember that day I snapped at you in front of Connie and you looked like you were about to kill me? Except it wasn't from her. It was from a social worker. She'd passed away giving birth to a child, and she'd left all rights to me." Max spoke staring at his shoes, and it was several moments after that he finally had the courage to look up.

For a moment she stared at him, taking all he'd said in before she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him closer to her. His arms snaked around her waist as he was desperate to stay as close as possible to her. "I'm sorry that I thought you were cheating on me."

"Surely you know that I'd never do that, certainly after the amount of effort I put into getting you to fall for me."

"I was scared and I doubted you and I shouldn't have done that. You should have told me about Maddie before, it wouldn't have changed anything."

"I was worried Zo', I was going to and then you told me you couldn't have kids, I was worried about your reaction. I know that was wrong of me but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time."

"Where is she now? If you have legal guardianship over her then how come I never see at yours?" Zoe asked, still holding Max close.

Max sighed, burying his face in Zoe's neck for a moment before he replied, "She's with a foster family a few streets away from Robyn's."

Zoe sighed and pulled away a little to studying Max's face before she reached up to kiss him.

...

"Maybe we should find a hotel, Robyn. I mean, they're newly married, and Zoe is our boss. I don't know that it's right us staying here."

"We haven't got any money for a hotel, Lofty! It'll be fine in the morning, those two always make up quickly."

"What about that time they avoided each other for a month because Max ruined Zoe's favourite shoes?"

"...Go to sleep, Lofty!"

…

"It's been a long day Max, I think it's time we went to bed. We can talk about this more in the morning, I have the day off and you are on the night shift."

Zoe took his hand and led him towards their bedroom, turning lights off and she went. As she got into bed, she watched as Max stripped down to his boxers before he too climbed into bed. Zoe moved closer to him, until she was able to rest her head on his chest and drape an arm over his bare stomach.

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about the fire and them staying."

"Forget it, I have. I love you Max."

"I love you too Zo." Max said as he placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head and then turned the light out. "Night baby."

 **A/N Thank you for all the reviews so far, I will get round to personally thanking everyone who has an account but thanks to the guest reviews to. This fic is completely written so I will upload a chapter each day, or I'll do my best to upload daily. Please do keep reading and reviewing.**


	4. Chapter 4

Despite neither having to be up early, they were woken at 6 by Robyn banging around in the bathroom. Giving a moan, Max pulled the covers over his head.

A moment later, as Zoe began to wake, Lofty poked his head through the door, "Are you awake, Max? I need to borrow some socks."

"I haven't got any socks. Leave me alone."

"They're in the second draw down, Lofty." Zoe supplied.

"Thanks. Sorry to wake you. Would you-"

"Go away, Lofty!" Max exclaimed.

As Zoe went to stand, Max wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back, kissing the back of her neck. "I'll go. I don't want you to see the mess they've probably made of the kitchen." Kissing her again, Max left the room.

Resting back in bed, Zoe sighed and shut her eyes.

...

"Who ate the last of the bread?" Max asked as he picked up the empty packet.

"Sorry," Lofty offered with a mouth full of toast.

Max sighed and opened the cupboard, glad to find Zoe's coffee was untouched, at least. "Write down a list of what you want and I'll go shopping before I start work."

"Look at you being all domesticated!" Robyn grinned as she entered the room.

"There's domesticated, and then there's being scared of his wife." Lofty added with a grin.

"At least I'm not so scared of her that I can actually hold a proper conversation." Max hit back, laughing. "Anyway, she's not that scary but I'm sure she could be if she wasn't fed and watered regularly."

"She's not a dog Max." Robyn pointed out.

"No, a dog would be easier to live with." He told the giggling pair as he scrawled things on to the shopping list. "Is there anything else you need?"

"A multi-bag of crisps." Robyn answered and then handed over a £10 note for her and Lofty's shopping.

"Okay, now I'm going back to bed to have a lazy few hours with my wife." He said as the kettle finally boiled, while Robyn and Lofty pulled on their coats that now didn't smell of smoke.

...

Zoe pulled the duvet a bit closer to keep warm now that she'd lost the heat from Max.

A few minutes later Max entered the bedroom with 2 mugs and a plate of all that he could find in the fridge, which wasn't much. Setting them down beside the bed gently, he looked down at Zoe who looked fast asleep again.

"Well, I guess I will have the last croissant."

The ghost of a smile pulled at Zoe's lips. "You wouldn't dare."

Lifting the duvet which let the cold air hit Zoe again, Max climbed back into the bed.

Immediately she shifted slightly and sat upright. "Max put the duvet down! I'm cold."

"I could fix that for you." He said dropping the duvet and moving closer to her, placing small and gentle kisses down her neck.

"You did the moment you dropped the duvet, coffee would make sure I was warm though." She pointed out, laughing at Max's mock wounded look. Without any more words he reached back around for one of the mugs and passed her it to her. "I knew there was a reason I kept you around, you make the best coffee."

"We both know there's more reasons than just that, anyway if I wasn't here coffee wouldn't be the first thing you missed." He whispered suggestively.

"That's what you think." She took a few more sips of her drink before she turned her head to look at him,

"What?"

Zoe moved closer to Max and his eyes closed, his lips readying for a kiss, but instead she reached past him to get the remote he'd taken the night before. "Look at that, up early enough to watch the news on my day off.

Max gave a groan and covered his head with the duvet once more.

Zoe flicked through channels, but they all had children on the screen, something she was trying to avoid thinking about until her coffee had kicked in at least. With a sigh, she turned the TV off and looked down at Max's form under the duvet. "Max?"

"Mmm?"

"Do you have a photo of her?"

"Of who?" He asked, his sleep fogged brain not quite up to playing Zoe's guessing games.

"Who do you think?" She asked and watched as an arm popped out from under the duvet to grab his phone and then handed it to Zoe.

"There are some in my photo album on there, just scroll and you'll find some." He remained under the duvet, not quite sure that he wanted to be able to see this.

"God Max, I could get you done for stalking with the amount of pictures you have on here of me." She laughed, scrolling through numerous photos of herself.

"I need something to get me through when you're not with me and I need something to prove that my wife is as gorgeous as I say she is." The response that Max was expecting never came, she was too distracted to hear what he'd said once her eyes had fallen upon the photo of Maddie. The little girl was no older than a year, her bright blue eyes stood out in the photo as she stared at the toy in front of her. The little bit of thin blonde hair that she did have had a purple bow in it, a bow that matched the outfit that she had on.


	5. Chapter 5

Under the cover's, Max kept his eyes tightly shut.

The next photo was of Maddie sitting on Max's knee, both of them staring intently at the phone in front of them on which was a photo of Zoe. Zoe stared at this photo for a long time before finally flicking left again. This was a short video that was clearly accidentally filmed of Maddie inspecting the phone with a frown, but when she saw herself on the screen she gave a delighted laugh. Zoe kept flicking through, but they were the only images of Maddie, the rest were of herself, normally taken sneakily by Max with him standing in the foreground making a face. The last photo in the album was of Zoe in her wedding dress laughing at something as Max gazed at her with a smile.

"Zoe?" Max mumbled.

"Max she's gorgeous." Zoe whispered, Max stayed under the duvet for a moment before he finally surfaced. He found Zoe staring at the photo of the little girl sat on Max's knee.

"I had to show her photos of you, otherwise I don't think she'd have believed me that I had a stunning consultant for a wife." He tried a joke but it just didn't feel like it was the right time.

"How could you give her up?" Zoe asked, still staring at the photo but reaching for Max's hand too.

"I didn't give her up as such, she's in temporary foster care until I sort my life out. I had no money when I was given her and I didn't think you'd want a child."

"So how long was it going to be before you told me? Or were you just going to leave her there?"

Max was silent for a moment, staring at the photo, before he turned his head away and gave a shrug. "I chose you, Zoe. I've always chosen you."

"Max-"

"I'd choose you above anyone and everything. Yes, I'm attached to her, but she's young and she could grow up with a lovely family that doesn't involve me and she wouldn't know any different."

Zoe took a deep breath, she was sure she was doing the right by saying this but it didn't mean that she'd get the reaction that she wanted. "It doesn't have to be that way." She mumbled.

"Zoe you aren't thinking straight." Max told her, desperate for her not to light the need inside of him for this, when he was sure she'd change her mind.

"Maybe not but think about it, you said she's in temporary foster care. You clearly love Maddie and I can't have children. What's the solution to this problem?"

"Do you even want children? Do I even want children? We've never discussed this, Zoe, and after so little sleep, I don't think now is the time to. I'm going for a shower."

As Max pushed himself up, Zoe hesitated then called out to him, "I want to meet her."

Max hesitated in the doorway and then left the room.

Zoe waited until she could hear the shower before she grabbed his phone again, flicking through the contacts.

She had no idea who she was looking for, after all Max had never told her the foster parents' names. She'd been about to give up her search, then his Facebook had opened, she'd pressed it more by accident than design but as it opened a photo of Maddie appeared. Zoe had little idea how to work Facebook as she herself wasn't on it, but it didn't take her long to realise that Max hadn't posted the photo but that someone called Joanna had.

Flicking back to his contacts she came across a Joanna Smith and figured that it was the right person. Ringing had been an accident, she had been debating it with her finger hovering above the bottom but by the time she realised that she'd rung there was someone speaking.

"Max?" A woman asked on the other end of the phone, in the background Zoe could hear the screaming of a baby.

"Hi, no I'm Zoe."


	6. Chapter 6

"It's lovely to finally hear from you! Max has told us how busy you are at work."

"Ah, yeah, I-"

"Sorry, I'm just going to go to a different room. All the kids are sick today. Always the way, isn't it?"

In the background, the crying baby began to hiccup, getting more upset. Joanna slipped into another room and shut the door. "Peace at last. So- Oh, something I forget to tell Max when we was here yesterday, there's a photo of you and Max on the fridge from your wedding, you looked lovely by the way, and Maddie has started pointing at it saying 'Zoo'. We think it might me your name she's trying to say."

Zoe felt her heart swell a little, she didn't even know the child and yet she was sure she was just a little in love.

"Is Maddie okay?" Zoe asked the woman.

"Yeah she'll be okay, she's just got a bit of a cold. I'm sure you know how grumpy babies can get when they feel a little under the weather. I have two other children here too and they're the worst, they're a little older but won't stay in bed."

"I was going to ask if I could come and visit Maddie later but it sounds as if it's a bad time." Zoe explained, not quite sure what to do.

"Of course you can, Max can give you the address and you can pop round whenever."

After a moments pause, wondering whether Max would agree to either take her or give her the address, Zoe asked, "Would you mind just messaging it to his phone? He's gone to work and he forgot it, so I can't contact him."

"Oh, sure. Look, I'd better go I can hear fighting. I'll send the address right through and I'll see you soon."

Just as Zoe hung up, Max walked into the room with a towel around his waist, his wet hair sticking up at odd angles. "Who was on the phone?"

"It was just Dylan. He wanted to know if I was working today." Zoe said, slipping Max's phone into her pocket as Max faced the wardrobe. "Do you fancy another cuppa?" Zoe asked as she got out of bed.

"No thanks."

"Okay, well I'm going to make one for myself." She walked through to the kitchen, making sure that Max wasn't watching her. Quickly she removed Max's phone from her pocket and sent the address to herself for deleting that text from Max's phone and the original. Part of her felt guilty that she was going behind Max's back but she needed to work out how she was feeling.

Max was relieved that Zoe seemed to have let the subject drop, at least for now. Getting dressed, he pushed the shopping list into his pocket ad began whistling, trying to lighten the dark mood that seemed to refuse to go away.

...

By the time Max left for work Zoe's stomach was in knots. She stood in front of the address that had been sent to her, but it looked too small for 3 children so she was looking around hesitantly when the front door opened. "Is that you, Zoe?"

From behind the woman came a yell. "Zoo! Zoo!"

Joanna immediately picked up Maddie and held her in her arms. "No sweetheart, it's Zoe." She told the child, exaggerating the 'e' sound, who was now giggling at Zoe. "Come in Zoe." Joanna smiled sweetly, stepping aside for Zoe to enter.

"Are you sure it's not too much trouble me being here?" Zoe asked, but she could no longer hear any noise.

"Of course it isn't, she's had her nap and the boys are both asleep now. Anyway, it's not often you've got time off according to Max." Joanna replied, leading Zoe towards the living room, where toys were laying out over the carpet. "Drink?"

"No thank you."

"Do you mind watching her for a moment while I get myself a drink? I've not stopped today."

"Of course not." Zoe smiled, Joanna placed Maddie on the floor, who immediately crawled towards Zoe's legs.

 **A/N Thank you for all the reviews, we both appreciate it, and sorry for not updating yesterday, I was ill. I'm uploading two chapters tonight to make up for it.**


	7. Chapter 7

Pulling herself up, Maddie studied Zoe for a moment and then held up her hands, requesting to be picked up.

After hesitating, Zoe pulled the girl onto her lap and Maddie immediately nestled her head into Zoe and began sucking her thumb.

Feeling the heat coming from the girl's forehead, Zoe frowned. "Are you sure it's just a cold she has?" She called towards where Joanna had disappeared.

She got no reply and she was unwilling to move now that the little girl in her arms looked so comfortable or shout louder increase she woke the boys.

"Are you not feeling well little'un?" Zoe asked, her worry levels increasing as she looked down at Maddie, whose face was beginning to redden. Her doctors' instinct was telling her that this was not just a cold, but she couldn't do very much without any equipment with her.

"Woah, I wish she'd settle that quickly for me. I think she likes you." Joanna smiled as she entered the living room.

"Are you sure that it's just a cold she has?" Zoe asked, trying to keep her worry to herself.

"Yeah, same as the boys, why?"

"She just seems quite warm."

"...She has been sick a lot longer than they have, but she did seem to be picking up yesterday when Max came over. Truth be told I was going to ask him if you could pop around and take a look at her. I would take her to the doctors, but it takes so long to get any money from social services, and it normally upsets her more than it does anything else. She doesn't take to people easily. In fact, aside from Max you're the only person I've seen her snuggle with recently."

Hearing Max's name, Maddie lifted her head and looked towards the door hopefully. "Mac?"

"No sweetie, he's not here." Maddie's face dropped slightly, she nestled further into Zoe and tried to bury her head. It was then that she noticed that the little girl's breathing wasn't in any sort of regular rhythm.

"Has she had any rashes recently?" Zoe asked, her worry escalating as she looked down at Maddie.

"Yeah, she had one last week but I assumed it was the washing powder I used, it was new, so I changed back and she's been fine since." Joanna explained.

"I don't want you to worry but I think we should take her in to the hospital, just so I can take a look at her with all of my stuff." Zoe explained as she picked up the little girl and stood up.

"What about the boys? I have no one to look after them, David isn't going to be home for at least another hour."

"Well I could take her on my own and you can join me after you've sorted something or you'll have to bring them too."

...

"Are you and Zoe okay?" Robyn asked, as she saw her brother heading outside for a cigarette.

"We're both fit and healthy, thank you."

Robyn followed him towards the door. "That's not what I meant and you know it."

"We're fine."

"Max-" Robyn began, but he walked out the door without letting her finish.


	8. Chapter 8

Tess was the first to see Zoe and gave her a smile. "I thought it was your day off. Who is this little angel?"

"This is Maddie, is there a spare cubicle?" Zoe asked as she cuddled Maddie closer.

"Mmm yeah, we just cleared one. Bring her through." Tess told her and led her towards cubicle 3. "What's the problem?"

"Like I said, this is Maddie, she's 11 months old, her temperature is 38.5 and her breathing is irregular. The foster mother is on her way in." Zoe reeled off the information she had.

...

"I thought it was Zoe's day off?" Lofty asked his best mate as they walked down the corridor.

"It is." Max sighed, he hated being away from her for long and today it was even worse. After the conversation they'd had about Maddie, he felt a stronger need to be with her.

"Well I just saw her step out of one of the cubicles."

Frowning, Max stubbed out his cigarette and rushed into the hospital. Relieved when he heard her voice, he moved towards the cubicle. "Zoe, are you-"he stopped when he saw her with Maddie on her lap and Tess examining the child.

"Max, she-" this was all Zoe managed to get out before max took a couple of steps back and then turned to flee.

"What's that all about?" Tess asked.

"Don't worry, I'll fix it later. Right now what's important is making sure there's nothing sinister going on with this one."

"Zoo!" Maddie tried, lifting her arms up slightly to let Zoe know that she wanted a cuddle.

"I know you don't want to be here, neither do I but I'm going to make you feel better sweetheart."

...

"Patient in resus needs transferring to CT." Cal told Max, who seemed to be stood doing not a lot, when he got no response Cal spoke again. "Max?" Yet again he received no recognition that he was even talking. "Earth to Max." He tried to for a final time and waved s hand around in front of Max's face.

"What?"

"I need you to transfer a patient to CT."

"I can't."

"It's your job!" As Cal stared at him, Robyn approached hesitantly.

"Leave it, Cal."

Cal rolled his eyes and stormed off as Robyn stood in from of her brother. "I saw Zoe. And Maddie."

"This is your fault. If you hadn't mentioned Maddie's name she would never have found out."

"Max! You couldn't have kept it a secret forever!"

"Couldn't I? How long have Zoe and I been married? And how many times has she freaked out and decided she can't be married? Zoe changes her mind all the time, says she wants something and then a week later wants nothing to do with it. I didn't tell her because I knew she would want to see her, she'd get attached, I'd see them together...and then in a month, 2 months, she changes her mind, as usual. I didn't tell her to protect her. And Maddie. And myself."

"Max-" Robyn began, but when Max looked up he saw Zoe in the doorway.

Zoe just stood watching, she wasn't quite sure what to say, and neither did Max, whose eyes were back at the floor.

"I'm sorry Max." Robyn mumbled, not quite sure how to deal with the tension in the room.

"Just go Robyn." Max replied softly, his eyes falling upon Zoe once again.

"Max?" She whispered calmly. "I think we need to talk."

"You aren't running?" He asked, genuinely shocked at his wife's words.

"No, I didn't realise you worried about that Max. I knew I was jumpy but I didn't realise how much it affected you."

"And risk you running away because that was a serious conversation?" He asked, realising that she didn't quite get what she was doing.

"I'm sorry, I do love you Max. I just get scared and then I don't know how to deal with that fear."

"You talk to me and we deal with that fear together."

"I don't run so often anymore." She told him as tears clouded her eyes.

After a short pause, Max stepped forward and pulled Zoe into an embrace. "That's because of my cooking skills, right?"

Zoe gave a soft laugh, shutting her eyes as she breathed him in.

"I love you, Zoe, and if I had my way I'd tell you every tiny detail of my day, but I suppose fear is catching, and sometime I get scared to tell you things too."


	9. Chapter 9

"Is she okay?" Max asked, stepping back from Zoe but reaching for her hand instead.

"The foster mother is here and she's asking for you Zoe." Tess told her. "Also the test results are back."

"Okay, I'll be there in a minute." She told her friend before turning back to Max. "She'll be okay Max, don't worry. I love you and I'll work on the fear."

"No, we'll work on it together." He paused slightly, she could tell that there was something he wanted to say and yet he wouldn't say it.

"Go on..."

Can I see Maddie?" He asked, he felt sick with worry for the little girl. He loved Maddie, his insides felt knotted as he knew little of what was going on.

"Yeah, come on."

As soon as she Max, Maddie held up her arms, tears beginning to shine in her eyes as her bottom lip wobbled. Gently, he took her from Joanna and held her close, shutting his eyes for a moment as Maddie snuggled into him and began sucking her thumb again.

"Zoe?" Tess held out the test results hesitantly, unsure if Zoe should be treating the girl.

Zoe glanced at Joanna, then at Max before she took the results and studied them.

"Well?" Max asked, cuddling the little girl closer.

"Like I said, it's not just a cold. Maddie has a chest infection, don't worry though, it's nothing that a course of antibiotics shouldn't fix."

"Are you sure?" Max asked, as the little girl began to cry.

"Yeah, Tess could you go to the pharmacy and sort that for me please?"

"Yeah, I won't be long." Tess smiled.

Max sat on the bed with Maddie in his arms, whilst Zoe and Joanna stood just outside the door.

"I should have taken her to a doctor sooner." Joanna cried to Zoe.

"Don't blame yourself, they often start with the same symptoms of a cold."

"I'm glad you came over, I've never seen her like that with anyone new." Joanna complimented.

From the other side of the cubicle they could hear Max talking to Maddie. "See I told you I had a stunning wife, I know you've seen pictures but seeing her in real life is a lot different. Zoe's lovely, she's doing all she can to make you feel better, and if that doesn't scream nice person then I don't know what does." Maddie started to cry again. "No, none of that. You're okay Mads. I love you." Max said and cuddled Maddie a little closer.

"Zoo?"

Max hesitated. She's said that too him the day before, but he wasn't sure what she meant. He wondered now if it was Zoe. "...Do you want Zoe?"

"Zoo." Maddie confirmed.

Max glanced towards the cubicle curtain, then back at Maddie before he pulled it open, surprised to find Zoe still stood there. "I think she wants you."

Zoe couldn't meet Max's eye. Hearing him talk to Maddie that way pained her, aware that he was prepared to give something like that up because he loved her. Reaching out, she took Maddie from him and settled on the bed with her.

"Can I just leave her with you for a moment? I need to ring David and tell him what's going on and see how the boys are doing." Joanna asked.

"Yeah, course Jo." Max replied, not turning to face her as he couldn't keep his eyes of Zoe who was singing gently to Maddie who was slowly falling asleep in her arms. Without saying anything else he took his phone out and took a photo of the scene in front of him. "Is she asleep?" Max asked quietly.

"I think so." Zoe replied, turning briefly to look at Max before laying Maddie down on the bed and standing up. "I can't let you give her up for me Max."

"I'm not giving you up Zoe."

"That's not what I meant, what if you didn't have to give either of us up?"

"What do you mean?" Max asked warily.

"...Maybe we could take her in, look after her-"

"Zoe, I don't want you to say this because you think it's what I want."

"Maybe it's what I want, too."

As Max looked into Zoe's eyes, Robyn entered. "I noticed she forgot her favourite toy, so I went and got her a teddy." She held out the fluffy toy hesitantly.


	10. Chapter 10

"Robyn do you have a few minutes?" Zoe asked her, looking down at Maddie sleeping on the bed.

"Yeah, why? Is something seriously wrong?" She asked nervously.

"No, she's just got a chest infection but I need to talk to Max in private and Joanna is just on the phone." Zoe explained, as Robyn just nodded. Max gently took her hand as they walked towards Zoe's office.

"How do you know you won't change your mind next week? How do I know that you won't?" Max asked.

"You don't, you'll have to trust me." She told him honestly.

Max sighed and looked down at their joint hands. "I do. At least, I usually do but usually it's just me and you, there's no one else to consider. And what about work. Would you take time off? Would I? Is our place even safe to bring a child into?"

Zoe lifted a hand to his chest, hearing the slight edge of panic in his voice. "Max, all those things are easily sorted. I...I've only just met Maddie and already the thought of handing her back to Joanna, even for a minute, is too upsetting. I knew as soon as I met her that it's meant to be. I know I don't usually say things like that, I know I laugh when you do, but...it feels so right, Max."

"I hate having to leave her every time I visit her, it takes all my strength not to pick her up and carry her out the door with me. I love her and I'd love her to be part of our family but we have to be practical Zo'." Max admitted, taking a seat on the sofa in Zoe's office.

"Okay, well we can figure something out and maybe look at day care too? I can cut back on night shifts and weekend shifts and then we can sort something out between us. There's no reason why this can't work if we try. We both want this Max and Maddie loves you, surely that's all the reason we need.

"She loves you too, you know. I mean what isn't to love." He smiled, pulling Zoe down beside him and kissing her.

"So are we doing this?" Zoe asked, finally allowing herself to hope that she might finally get the family that she'd once hoped for but never thought she'd get.

"I think we're doing this."

Zoe grinned at Max and hugged him tightly. He could feel both their hearts racing.

...

As they walked back towards the cubicle a short time later, they could hear that Maddie had woken and was once more upset. Inside the cubicle, Tess tried to feed Maddie the syringe of antibiotics as Robyn held her and Joanna tried to amuse her with the teddy bear, but the girl continued to scream.

When Zoe entered, Maddie immediately held her arms out to her. Max squeezed Zoe's hand and then let it go so she could take her from Robyn.

"Never saw you as a child torturer, Tess." max grinned.

"Oh, stop it. You try if you think it's so easy."

Max took the syringe from her and approached Maddie where she was settling into Zoe's lap. "Mads, who is the more gorgeous woman in the world?"

"Zoo!" Maddie replied, and as she pursed her lips, Max pushed in the syringe and deposited the sweet tasting medicine. Maddie made a face, but swallowed the medicine without another cry. Looking up, max winked at Zoe.

"You were saying Tess?" Max laughed.

"I should get back to work." Came Robyn's voice from behind them.

"I'll come and find you before she's discharged." Max assured her.

"How were the boys Joanna?" Zoe asked.

"Okay, it sounds like the boys have perked up again and are watching programmes that I don't allow them to watch in front of Maddie because of her age." Joanna explained, feeling calmer than she had earlier been.

"She'll need more medicine in four hours." Tess explained before she left, they'd forgotten that she'd been in the room, but she'd been checking Maddie's temperature and taking other obs.

"Thank you." Joanna smiled as she looked down at the little girl and then to the anxious couple sat at the end of the bed.

"We need to talk to you, it's nothing to worry about but we'd like your opinion before we do anything officially."

"You want to take her?" Joanna asked.

Max hesitated, glanced at Zoe and then nodded.


	11. Chapter 11

"...Are you sure you haven't decided this too quickly? I know it's scary when they get sick, but Zoe, you've never visited before, you always seem to be working. Are you sure you'll find time?"

"I didn't come before because I didn't know about her."

Joanna's eyes fell on Max who lowered his head. After a pause, he began explaining the situation to her.

As Max spoke, Maddie yawned and rested heavily against Zoe, shutting her eyes again. "Zoo." She mumbled to herself sleepily.

As Joanna left the cubicle, Max bent down to drop a kiss to Zoe's head. "There's something I need to get. I won't be long."

"Don't tell me you're the one who is going to run away this time?" Zoe asked, only half joking, because Joanna's questions had worried her.

Max bent forward to kiss her gently. "I'll be 5 minutes at the most."

Zoe nodded, watching him go before she looked down at Maddie and began stroking her silky hair gently.

...

Joanna returned before Max and sat down next to the bed. "The social worker is on her way, but she might be a while. Will Maddie be kept in?"

"I don't think so, but we stay here unless any other children are brought in, and then we can use my office."

Joanna nodded, gazing at Maddie. "...Zoe, are you sure you want this? I know Max does, I've always known he'd want to eventually, but are you sure you're doing this for the right reasons?"

"I spent every day making life changing decisions, Joanna. I know it may seem like I've just decided on this, but like every decision I make, it's based on hours, years of thinking. I want to have a family, I want to be a family with Max, I always have, but I never allowed myself to think about it. Then when I saw Maddie...I knew that I'm meant to do this. I'd do anything in my power to make this happen."

"What's going on? I thought she was okay, why is she still here?" Robyn asked as she saw Max walking through the corridor.

"She's fine, they're just sorting a few things out." Max called to her as he continued to walk, he knew he didn't have long. As he got towards his cupboard he took a deep breath, this was never the way he'd expected the day to go but here he was. He wasn't running, but he needed a moment to process the major change that he knew was coming. Just inside the door of his cupboard he found what he'd come from, slipping it into his pocket, he took another deep breath before he headed back for Zoe.

...

"You must be Mrs Walker? I'm Sue Lockhart, Maddie's social worker."

"Yeah, Dr Zoe Walker. Max has just nipped out to get something, he'll be back any second." Zoe explained.

"How is she doing?" Sue asked, looking at the sleeping Maddie, who was now sprawled across Zoe's lap.

"She had a chest infection and is on antibiotics. I'm confident she'll be okay, her temperature is already coming down slightly." She explained, feeling confident when it came to any questions on medicine.

Sue nodded, taking the seat Joanna had recently vacated. "Joanna tells me you and Max are interested in caring for Maddie full-time?"

Zoe nodded, but said no more.

"She's also just informed me that you only found out about Maddie last night."

"I already explained that-"

She was cut off by Max entering breathlessly. 5 minutes to the second after he'd left. "Sorry. Good to see you again, Sue." As he held his hand out to shake hers, he watched with dismay as she looked between him, Zoe and Maddie.

"Is something wrong? Is Maddie okay?" Max asked as he looked down at Maddie, who was still fast asleep and showing no signs of waking anytime soon.

"Zoe was just filling me in on how she only found out about Maddie last night and met her for the first time today." Sue explained, and from her tone of voice he could tell that this was something that would definitely go against this.

"The foster placement was temporary." Max began. "It was done on the understanding that she would be coming back to me when I was sorted. You knew I was sorting out a stable home and that I was married to a consultant. Yes, Zoe may only recently have found out about Mads but it changes nothing, we still have the ability to provide a loving and stable home for this little girl and surely that's what's important here?"

"Maddie is absolutely the most important thing here. Where she is at the moment she has siblings, a stay at home mother and stability. What will you offer her? Love is important, yes, but a child needs more. Are you planning on having more children? Who will look after Maddie while you're at work? Is your house appropriate for a child, and if it's not, will you move? What about your social life?"

As Sue fired questions at him, Zoe saw Max fold his arms defensively and begin tap his fingers against himself, which he always did when he became agitated. Reaching out, Zoe took hold of his polo shirt and pulled him towards the bed. Reluctantly he sat down.

"I know there's a lot of things we need to address and think about, but the mother of this child trusted Max enough to leave her to him, surely that counts for something?'

Sue glanced at Max before replying, "If she was in the right stage of mind when she said it."

Max pushed himself from the bed, even more agitated now, but before he could say anything, Connie pulled open the curtain. "I need you to take a patient to x-ray if you're still working."


	12. Chapter 12

"Is that okay?" Max asked, looking towards Zoe and then Sue.

"Yeah, I think there's some stuff that I need to explain. Anyway, it's me they have a problem with, not you." Zoe replied quietly to Max.

"We don't have a problem with you Dr Walker, we're just trying to establish what is in Maddie's best interests." Sue explained.

"Go on Max, you won't be long." Zoe told Max, who pushed aside the flimsy curtain separating them from the rest of the ED. "This means a lot to us, we could give that girl everything. I earn a lot of money and have no one to spend it on but myself and Max. The only thing we couldn't give Maddie would be a sibling, I can't have children. I used to foster a little girl, Sharice, I loved her but I didn't have time for her. I learnt the errors in my way and it was cemented when I saw my friend's daughter move in with her dad because her mum didn't have the time for her. Max and I have already talked work schedules and we can make this work. Whilst she wouldn't be with us 24/7, which isn't healthy anyway, she would certainly have us the majority of the time."

"What I've discussed with Joanna is you having Maddie temporarily, so we can assess how she seems to be coping living with you and so that we can do home visits. I think it's the best way forward, so that we can make sure everyone is happy with the situation before we make it temporary."

As Zoe nodded, relieved she hadn't just said no outright, Maddie stirred and gripped tighter to Zoe's top when she saw Sue- the woman who had ferried her between different people her whole life. Not old enough to understand much, Maddie still understood that the woman in front of her might try and take her from Zoe. "Zoo!" She looked up at her desperately.

"I'm still here. You're okay little'un." Zoe soothed her before she turned back to Sue. "So where do we go from here?" Zoe asked, unsure of what was going on for the rest of the day.

"Well as far as I'm aware, and please do correct me if I'm wrong, Maddie is okay and free to go as soon as we're done. We were going to start her living with you tomorrow, but she seems very unwilling to leave you. So we thought, as soon as we're finished that she can stay at yours tonight, if that's okay with you?"

"That's more than okay with me, and Max will be delighted too. I'll just go shopping on the way home and get everything we need for a while."

"Okay, well I shall get out of your hair. I shall visit you tomorrow Dr Walker." Sue smiled, before she left the cubicle.

"I should probably get going, I need to get back for the boys."

"I'll leave you to say goodbye, I need to speak to Max anyway and sort my time off."

Maddie's tears began as soon as Joanna picked her up, and Zoe could hear her calling out as she walked away.

She found Max making his way back towards the lift. When he saw her, he pulled out a Curly Wurly from his back pocket and held it out to her. Taking it gratefully, she rested in his arms as she opened it and bit into it.

"So, what did she say?"

"She's coming home with us Max." She breathed a sigh of relief and felt Max do the same as Zoe fell into his arms. Normally Zoe wasn't one for public displays of affection around the hospital but it felt right now. "They said it was temporary and that make home visits to see how we're getting on, but it's a start." Max felt the happiness bubble inside him but fear at the idea that this wasn't set in stone yet, Maddie wasn't definitely theirs.

"So what now?" He asked, knowing that he still had three hours of his shift remaining.

"Well Joanna is saying bye right now but Maddie cried as soon as I left, so I'm not sure how that's going. I need to go and speak to Connie about my working hours, and you should probably come too. After that, Joanna said she'd lend me Maddie's car seat so she's coming home tonight, I'll take her shopping on the way and get a cot and some toys and whatever else we'll need."

"Don't go crazy Zo', not until it's definite. Just get what we need." He warned her. "Let's go and see Connie then." He smiled, taking her hand to walk to her office together. "I hope you realise just how much I love you Mrs Walker."

Zoe smiled, squeezing Max's hand. When they reached the office door, Zoe took a deep breath.

"Just imagine her naked." Max whispered to her, then pushed open the door.

Zoe bit her lip as she entered the room where Connie looked up, unimpressed that they hadn't knocked. Is there something I can help you with?"

As Zoe laid out what she wanted, Connie sighed to herself, suddenly aware that the woman in front of her was braver than herself. She'd had this sort of opportunity and she'd let it go by. Now look where Grace was. "Okay." Connie interrupted Zoe.

"...Pardon?"

"I said ok. You may have to take home some paperwork so that others can stay with patients instead of paper pushing, though."

Max opened his mouth to argue, but Zoe elbowed him, knowing this was the best deal she was going to get, at least for now.

"I'll liaise with the head porter and make sure you both get your weekends off, and Zoe I will make sure you get no nights, but aside from that you're on your own."


	13. Chapter 13

"Mac!" Maddie screeched excitedly as Max reappeared in the room.

"I've told her she's going to stay with you and Zoe, and she seems excited. I'll be a phone call away if you need anything Max."

"Thank you Jo, and thanks for doing such a good job of bringing her up so far." Max spoke, lunging forward to hug the woman who he'd gotten to know quite well over the previous 11 months.

"I'll leave you to it then." Joanna smiled. "Good luck. Bye Mads, bye Max."

"Zoe's outside, she's just putting paperwork away in the car but she mentioned you were letting us borrow her car seat so if you could that'd be brilliant." Max smiled, this was it. They were going to be a family, at least for a while. Zoe and Max had swapped cars for the day, having realised that her beloved car was not going to fit everything in and that Max's new car would.

"Yeah, I'll go out now."

Max turned back to Maddie, and grabbed her coat from the chair at the side of the bed. "Are you ready for this Mads? It's just you, me and Zoe for a while."

"Zoo?" Maddie asked hopefully.

Smiling, Max put her coat on and picked her up. "Yes, we will go and see Zoe, but let's find Robyn first, because I think she found you something to eat."

...

When Max saw Robyn, she almost knocked him from his feet with the force of the hug she gave him. "I got food from the children's ward, and I got a blanket in case she gets cold- it's one for a new-born, but it will do." As Robyn piled up the things she'd found and brought into Max's arms, he began to look a little overwhelmed.

"Robyn. Robyn! We've only got her temporarily at the moment, there's no need to spend all your pay on her. And I need to get back to work, so I need to take Maddie outside to Zoe."

"Alright, fine. I'm just excited."

...

Outside, Max was glad for the blanket because it was much colder than it had been earlier. Spotting Zoe, he approached her from behind. "I get to drive your precious car!"

"I could always make you get a taxi." Zoe replied cheekily. "No seriously though, if there's a single scratch on that when it comes back to me, I will divorce you."

"You're incentivising me to crash." Max replied seriously before a cheeky grin crept onto his face. Max handed Maddie to Zoe to strap into the car while he placed the majority of the stuff Robyn had given him, in the front seat.

"Okay she's in. Are you ready for this Max?" Zoe asked, as she shut the backseat door.

"I should really be asking you that, but yeah I think we're ready." He replied before he lent down to kiss her.

"Okay, well I'll see you at home later. Be ready to build a cot." Zoe warned.

...

Zoe pulled into the car park of Mothercare not long later, the car park was relatively empty but then it was a Tuesday afternoon.

"I always wanted a daughter, hopefully you'll love shopping too." Zoe told Maddie as she got out of the car and went round to get Maddie out of her car seat.

Inside, the shop assistant made a beeline for Zoe. "She's gorgeous! What's her name?"

"Maddie." Zoe supplied, suddenly worried people would question her carrying a baby, but no one did. The assistant helped her pick things out, and then got someone to load them into the car while Zoe continued to browse.

Maddie stayed quiet most of the time, still not feeling her best, but when they passed a display of pink bunny rabbits, she began to bounce up and down on Zoe's hip, pointing to them.

"You want a rabbit?" Zoe asked, seeing the excitement plastered across Maddie's face. "Okay." She smiled, unable to resist as she picked a fluffy pink rabbit up and put it in the trolley. They'd been wandering the shop for a while, so by now she'd bought a cot and all the other essentials. Now all she needed were some clothes.

...

"Max, you've finished your shift. I thought you'd want to get home to Zoe and Mads." Robyn spoke as she saw Max sat in the staffroom nearly half an hour after the end of his shift.

"Mmm, yeah I'm just sorting something." Max answered, looking back down at his phone.

"Zoe will be wondering where you are, she might be struggling, she's never had a baby to look after before."

"Knowing her, she'll still be shopping and Maddie is hardly a fussy child. Zoe will be fine, have faith in her."

"What are you doing anyway?"

"I took this photo earlier and sent it off to that company in town that print photos and frame it." Max explained, showing Robyn the photo of Maddie sat up laughing in Zoe's arms.

 **A/N Sorry for slow updates, it's all written so it's just a matter of when I have time to upload and for the last week I've been in Washington D.C so updates just weren't possible. Thank you for being patient with me and thank you for reviews.**


	14. Chapter 14

Robyn smiled, squeezing Max's arm. "She'll love it. I don't suppose I can have a cuddle when I get home later?" She asked, once again regretting agreeing to go for a meal with Lofty to give the new family some space.

"Let me think...uh, no. Maybe when you're both awake at a civil time."

"I'll hold you to that, Max. If Maddie is going to be my niece, I need to spend as much time as I can with her so she learns what an idiot you are."

"Love you too, Robyn." Max grinned as he walked towards Zoe's car.

"She's letting you drive THAT? Please, please, please give me a lift home!"

"Alright, but hurry up! I'm leaving in 2 minutes."

As Robyn rushed back inside to collect her bag, Max sat in the driver's seat and sent Zoe a message. "How is everything going? I'm just dropping Robyn in town and then I can bring home something for dinner if you tell me what you fancy. And no, I won't let Robyn drive."

...

Zoe sat down at home, she'd managed to clear the living room of anything that could be a potential hazard to Maddie. She sat on the floor with Maddie, in between the sofas and the TV. Maddie was playing with her new toys, and making noises happily to herself, whilst Zoe filmed occasionally.

'Something quick and easy, I'm exhausted x' Zoe replied to her husband's text.

"Zoo!" Maddie giggled, her arm outstretched in Zoe's direction with a toy in her hand. Guessing that Maddie wanted her to play with her, she took the toy and shuffled closer to the little girl.

...

"Zoe, I'm home." Max called as he opened the front door. He wasn't sure what he'd been expected when he returned but Zoe fast asleep on the sofa, with Maddie curled into her watching children's TV wouldn't have made the list. "Have you tired her out?" Max laughed as he spoke to Maddie, who was engrossed in the movement and colours on the TV.

Figuring he should leave Zoe for a while and that Maddie seemed content enough, he walked through to the kitchen to put dinner on. The photo frame lay in a bag on the kitchen counter whilst Max faffed around with the oven.

Leaving the food to cook, he wandered through to the spare room, where there were numerous bags and boxes. In his head he pictured the perfect room for Maddie, but he was determined not to get carried away in case it was cruelly snatched from him. Realising he had twenty minutes until he had to tend to dinner, he began to put the cot together.

Zoe was woken by a small hand tugging her hair. When her eyes flickered open, she found Maddie watching her intently, and when the girl saw Zoe's eyes open, she gave a wide smile and held up her new fluffy toy.

In the spare room, Max swore softly. He'd put together the cot and was now trying to put together a change table, but every time he finished there still seemed to be a spare part or two that he couldn't work out where to put. Frustrated, he dropped the piece he held on the floor and walked back towards the kitchen.

The sound of a crash could be heard from the living room, Zoe picked up Maddie, and the new rabbit and headed towards where she assumed Max was. In front of her she saw a cot that had been put together and a heap of wood on the floor, that she figured was meant to be the changing table.

"Do you think we should help Mads?" Zoe asked the giggling child. "I think that's a yes."

"I can manage." Max replied, desperate to do it on his own. "You could go and check on dinner though. I didn't think this would take so long."

"Did you put anything on for Maddie?" Zoe asked, mindful that the little girl would be hungry and need to go to bed soon.

"Yeah, I have a can of ravioli. It's her favourite but I didn't put it on because it takes like 5 minutes."

"Right well I'll see to ours but do Maddie's first. If ours is ready then I'll just turn it off and put it at the side." Zoe replied, leaving the room as she spoke.

Maddie sat up in her high chair, so far she'd been as good as gold, and even taken her next lot of medication without much complaint but they didn't know how she would be with meal times.

When Zoe put the bowel in front of Maddie, she looked at it indifferently, reaching out to the bunny that Zoe had put on the table.

"Look, it's your favourite!" Zoe held out some food hopefully.

Maddie scrunched her nose and reached for her bunny again.

Hesitantly, Zoe tried a piece herself and Maddie watched intently. When she saw Zoe had finished her piece, Maddie opened her mouth and accepted a piece, eating it happily before pulling the bowl from Zoe's hands.

Zoe had just turned her back to check her own dinner when something wet hit her on the leg and Maddie gave a giggle.


	15. Chapter 15

Zoe turned around, a look of annoyance plastered across her face. Max arrived at the door just in time to see what was going on. "Zo', don't worry. I'll sort this, you just sort our dinner."

Zoe bent down to the oven to get out the food for herself and Max, but was distracted by Max talking to Maddie. "No Maddie, that's naughty. You have to eat the food, not throw it. If you don't eat it then you won't grow big and clever like Zoe, I'm sure she ate all her food when she was your age." Max told Maddie, knowing that she probably had little idea of what was going on.

"I take it I'm just dishing this up for us?" Zoe asked, turning to see Max sat next to Maddie whilst she slowly and messily ate.

"Yeah, the other two have gone out for dinner to give us time to get her settled." Max explained, as Zoe passed him over a plate of cottage pie.

"Remind me to thank them tomorrow, I just want to eat this, get her clean and into bed and then fall into our bed and sleep." Zoe yawned, it'd had been a long and life changing day that it really taken it out of both of them. "What's in the bag?" She asked, finally noticing the plastic bag out of the corner of her eye.

"Oh. Ah...just a present I got you." Max brought her a gift almost every day and he was never nervous about it, but today he was. Today, everything seemed to be changing so quickly he wasn't as sure of himself as he used to be.

Walking to the bag, Zoe opened it and pulled out a plain brown box. Frowning, she glanced at Max and then opened it.

He waited in silence while Zoe looked at it, but the longer the silence went on, the more be worried. Finally, he stood and approached her, putting a hand to her arm. "If you don't like it, if it's too much-"

"I love it." Zoe managed, tears in her eyes.

"Good." Max smiled as he looked back at Maddie, who was still playing with her ravioli while she ate it.

"I know I've only known her for a day baby, but I can't imagine her not being here." Zoe sighed, the little girl had taken a massive chunk of her heart and now she wasn't sure what she would do if they took Maddie back off them.

"I know, you have to think positively though. That's the worst case scenario and honestly, how much can we muck this up?"

"A lot."

"Look at her." Max started. "Does she look like she's dying?"

"No."

"Does she look unhappy?" Zoe looked over at Maddie, who was studying the piece of pasta that was in her hand.

"No."

"Does she like us?"

"Yes, for now. That could easily change though Max."

"It won't. Now you finish your dinner and pour yourself a glass of wine and I'll put Maddie to bed."

"I don't want wine, and are you sure that cot is safe?" She asked, doubting Max's DIY ability.

"Who are you and what have you done with Zoe Walker?!" Max laughed. "And I shall ignore your comment on my DIY skills."


	16. Chapter 16

All 3 were in bed early, and none work when Robyn and Lofty entered late that evening trying to be quiet, but Max woke with a start at about 2am, unable to work out what had woken to him until he hear coughing. Jumping up, he tripped over Zoe's shoes in the dark and swore softly before walking into the room in which they'd set up the nursery. In her cot, Maddie was coughing, looking flushed and crying because she was tired. Feeling a little panicked, Max picked her up and checked her temperature with the thermometer Zoe had left in there and he was relieved to find she didn't have a fever.

Calmer now she'd been picked up, Maddie's coughing lessened, and after a while of rocking Max thought she had gone back to sleep until she suddenly spoke. "Zoo?"

Max dropped a kiss to the top of Maddie's head. "Zoe is asleep, and she gets very grumpy if she's woken up."

"Zoo." Maddie said again.

"You're cute which might help your case, but it never did much for me." Max laughed.

"Zoo." Maddie demanded.

"Okay, just don't blame me when she won't play tomorrow." Max replied as he carried Maddie through to his and Zoe's bedroom.

"Max, come back to bed. I'm cold." Zoe mumbled sleepily, her eyes remaining closed. Maddie livened a little in Max's arms but didn't make a noise, until she coughed again which properly woke Zoe immediately. "Is she okay?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah, her temperature isn't any higher but her coughing woke me and she was demanding you. I tried to tell her you'd be grumpy but she just wasn't listening." Max told her as he put Maddie down on the end of the bed, and laughed as she half crawled half slithered to the top of the bed where Zoe was.

Smiling, Zoe picked Maddie up and lifted her under the covers so that she lay next to her.

Satisfied that she had what she wanted, Maddie shut her eyes, but her coughing soon woke her again and she nestled further into Zoe's side, crying tiredly.

"What should we do?" Max asked from where he'd sat by the window, enjoying watching Zoe gaze down at the sleeping child.

"Well she's asleep, there's still room for you in bed, so we leave her to sleep here for tonight and we sleep." Zoe replied, yawning again as she looked down. She was comfortable and her eyes were starting to feel heavy again. Max moved across the room and climbed in the bed, being careful not to wake Maddie as he got in and pulled the duvet around her.

"Night Zoe. Try not to squash her." He joked only to find that Zoe had already fallen asleep with her arms around Maddie. For a moment he just watched them both sleep, he felt his heart swell with love and joy.

"Could you two be any louder?" Max grumbled the next morning as he entered the kitchen.

"Sorry!" Robyn grinned. "Where is she? I want to give her a cuddle?"

"Zoe?"

"No, Maddie!"

Max put the kettle on to bail and pulled out Zoe's coffee from the cupboard. "She's asleep, where I'd still like to be."

"Why are you up then?" Lofty asked, biting into a piece of toast.

"I need to go to the supermarket because you two ate all our food. Again." Max sniffed the milk and frowned.

...

In the bedroom, Maddie woke and watched Zoe for a while before she began wriggling, then she reached up and tugged Zoe's hair. "Zoo!"

"Maddie, let go." Zoe demanded, she needed a coffee to start the day and she knew that Maddie needed feeding and her medicine. As she heard the front door shut, she got out of bed and carried Maddie through to the living room where Robyn was. "Robyn, can you take Maddie for a moment whilst I get her medicine?"

"Yeah, you look exhausted Zoe." Robyn replied as she took Maddie in her arms. "Good morning you."

"That's because someone had us up in the night. I take it Max has gone to buy more coffee?"

"Yeah. Open your mouth Maddie." Zoe asked gently as she neared the little girl, who kept her mouth firmly closed.

"Don't worry, I'll try. I have a bit of time before work, and you can do her breakfast." Zoe gave up with a sigh and passed the syringe to her sister in law. Leaving Maddie, she walked back to the kitchen and tried to figure out how to make porridge.

When Max returned a short time later, he stood in the doorway and watched Zoe banging around, attempting to make something, though he wasn't sure exactly what it was. Approaching her, he put a hand to her hip and she jumped.

"Don't sneak up on me!"

Max dropped a kiss to her shoulder and then put the coffee down. "Sorry. What exactly are you making?"

"Porridge, obviously."

"Right. Let me finish that and you make yourself a coffee."

As Zoe grumbled and stepped towards the kettle, Max studied her for a moment before asking, "I know you're tired, but are you happy, Zoe?"

"Of course I am, I just feel like I'm failing. I couldn't get her to take her medicine, Robyn is in the living room with her now after she managed it. I couldn't manage to get her to eat last night, you had to do it and now I can't even make her breakfast and you're having to take over." Zoe replied, tears glistening in her eyes.

"You're tired and overwhelmed, everyone with a young child feels the same. It's a learning curve, and often a steep one at that. I'm not perfect, nowhere near but we'll learn together."

"We need to be perfect now, you are already. We have Sue coming over later, she'll see what a failure I am and take her away in moments." Zoe replied, talking about her problems without really thinking, a stark change to only two days before.

"They know we're still learning, there's no such thing as a perfect parents, and although that's the first time you've admitted my perfection." Max laughed.

"When did you get so wise?" Zoe asked, as she placed a hand on his chest.

"I always was, you just ignored it."

Zoe smiled and kissed Max gently then rested against him until the water was boiled.

"I bet you'll feel for like yourself after a coffee."

"I hope so."


	17. Chapter 17

"Guys, come and look at this!" Robyn called from the other room.

When they entered, they found Maddie pulling herself up onto her feet, then standing on shaking legs before falling with a bang to her bottom only to try again, her eyes focused on one of Zoe's high heels.

Grinning, max elbowed Zoe. "Looks like we have another shoe lover."

"It's never too early to fall in love with shoes." Zoe spoke as she laughed, her eyes fixed on Maddie and a smile subconsciously spreading across her face. She slipped her phone off the side and ran back to film the occasion. Max's face was lit up as he watched the little girl he'd known since birth, try to take her first steps.

"Now I have two of them." He laughed, unable to tear his eyes away from Maddie, who was still trying to take steps forward. Each time she stood, she fell but the determination was clear in her features. "Robyn, could you sort the porridge please?" Max asked, as he realised that neither him nor Zoe was going to want to move to sort the breakfast.

"I didn't know she could walk! When did this happen?" Lofty asked as he walked into the living room.

As Lofty spoke, Maddie took her first proper step and managed to grab the shiny shoe before sitting down satisfied.

"Oh great. Now we're going to have your stupid voice on the video of our daughter's first step forever." As Max said the word daughter, it hit him. He'd focused so much on getting Zoe and then keeping her over the last few years, but now she'd agreed to do something which would link them together forever. She was actually the one who suggested it.

"What are you grinning at?" Robyn asked her brother suspiciously.

"Just remembered what happened a year ago today."

Eyes fell on him, expecting something romantic. "I had sex in my office for the first time as a married man."

Zoe sighed as she looked over at Max, who wore a cheeky grin across his face.

"Nothing to do with me."

"Oh come on, you must remember."

"Let's not focus on what we may or may not have done a year ago and focus on the fact that Maddie just took her first steps." Zoe pointed out, looking back down to where Maddie was sat, trying to pull the heels off of her favourite Jimmy Choo's.

"Maddie that really isn't a good idea, you'll find out when you're older that Jimmy Choo's are just too expensive to mess with and that there's a strong possibility that Zoe would never talk to you again if you did." Max told Maddie as he bent down and removed the shoe from the infant, causing her to burst into tears.

Robyn immediately swooped down to pick her up, but Maddie held out her arms to Zoe.

"I think she has a favourite." Lofty grinned.

...

Zoe carried her through to the kitchen and slipped Maddie into her high chair. Surprisingly, she ate without problem as Zoe spooned porridge into Maddie's mouth.

"What time is Sue coming to visit us today?" Max asked as he walked through to the kitchen to find Zoe wiping Maddie's mouth. "You know, I used to think that I was her favourite person but seriously she's known you a day and you're clearly her favourite."

"You clearly hyped me up to her before she met me. She'll be crushingly disappointed at some point." Zoe laughed. "Sue is coming at 2, so I thought we could get her up and dressed. Then I thought that you could take her to the park or something whilst I got some paperwork done, then we have the whole afternoon together."

"She'll hate going out without you." Max warned.

"She'll manage, she loves you and she'll have fun once she's there. I'll go and get her dressed." Zoe smiled, walking through to the newly done nursery with Maddie in her arms.


	18. Chapter 18

When Maddie was dressed and place in her new pram with her pink bunny, she looked expectantly towards Zoe. When Zoe tried purposefully not to look, Maddie held out a hand for her. "Zoo?"

Squatting in front of Maddie, Max blocked her view of Zoe. "You know where we can go? The park!"

"Zoo?" Maddie asked hopefully.

"You know what? I fell in love with Zoe on first sight as well, and I wish she'd come everywhere with me, but she gets very grumpy sometimes."

"Bumby?" Maddie repeated.

"Very bumby, so sometimes she needs to be left alone for a while so that when we come back, she will appreciate us more."

"Bumby Zoo." Maddie smiled at Max, pleased with herself.

"Something like that." Max smiled as he pulled on his own coat and left the house.

...

Zoe sat and for half an hour was productive and made a big dent in her paperwork pile. Loneliness hit her pretty quickly though, with Lofty in his room writing his story and Robyn out with Max and Maddie, the house was very quiet. It had been 24 hours since Maddie had come into her life and already she hated the silence that came when she wasn't there. It was still two hours until Sue was expected, looking around the room she noticed the toys laying abandoned and moved to tidy them up. As it neared half twelve, Zoe had done 15 more minutes of work before she text Max.

'Have you got Maddie something or shall I make her lunch for you coming back? x'

'Not got her food, can you put something on? Also, the rabbit thing needs washing xx' Came Max's reply seconds later. Zoe looked down at her work, she'd at least halved the pile and could do more once Maddie had gone to sleep however she'd figured that Max had other plans for her. Looking in the fridge, she tried to decide what she could possibly manage on her own.

By the time they arrived back at the apartment, Maddie was in tears, her cough once more hurting her chest. As they walked towards the front door, neither Robyn or Max noticed Sue waiting at the door until Maddie saw her and began crying harder.

"Sue! I thought you were coming at 2?"

"I was, but it looks like I came at just the right time. What's happened?"

"Nothing. She's still not feeling her best." Max offered, though he wasn't sure and had been beginning to panic.

"Zoo." Maddie cried as Max opened the door.

"I'm coming." Zoe called as she heard crying. "I think its medicine time for a certain little lady." She continued until she reached the front door, where Max was taking off Maddie's coat. "Sue?"

"Hi, I thought I'd pop round early to see how things were going." Sue supplied.

"Well come through, Max can get you a drink but I need to do Maddie's medicine and her lunch is just ready too." Zoe explained, not letting Sue get to her too much.

"Just go about your normal day, I'll ask questions as you go." Sue told them as they made it through to the kitchen, where Maddie stopped crying.

"Tea or coffee?" Max asked, as Zoe got Maddie to take the syringe of medium with no issue.

"I'm fine thanks. So what is for her lunch?"

"Mash with tuna."

Max leant against the cabinet as Zoe began feeding Maddie, suddenly unsure what to do. Everything he considered doing he worried that it would be the wrong thing, and he didn't want to ruin things for Zoe when he knew now just how much she wanted it.

In her highchair, Maddie insisted on holding Zoe's spare hand as she ate, glancing at Sue every so often.

Sighing, Sue sat down and looked between them all, then began writing.


	19. Chapter 19

"So talk me through your plans for this afternoon." Sue finally spoke, seemingly bored of writing in her note pad.

"Well Maddie will be going down for a nap in half an hour, I'll do some paperwork. Then when I wake her up, after an hour, we'll probably sit and play on the floor and watch a film or something before dinner." Zoe explained.

"She took her first steps this morning, she kept trying to pull herself up and then when she managed to stay up, she took a couple of steps!" Max told her, pleased that it had happened under their care.

Sue nodded, jotting something down in her note pad. "And how was last night?"

"Fine." Max replied, arms folding. When he saw Sue look at his arms, he unfolded them and hung then uselessly by his side. "..She did wake up, but she went back to sleep as soon as she could see Zoe."

"She seems very attached to you, Zoe, after less than 24 hours."

"If you think she's attached after less than 24hours, you wouldn't believe me if I told you what Max was like within 24hours of meeting me."

To Max's surprise, Sue laughed.

"He was." Lofty added as he appeared in the room in search of food. "We didn't know that it was Zoe who he was talking about, but he wouldn't stop talking about his new girlfriend."

"Max, can you put Maddie's rabbit in a pillow case and put it in the washing machine please?" Zoe asked as she saw Maddie's favourite toy covered in mud. "What happened?" She asked.

"She dropped it out of the pram as we walked through the park." Max explained as he retrieved the rabbit to put in the washing machine. As soon as she saw it, Maddie reached out her arms for it.

"No Maddie, it's dirty. You can have it later."

Maddie looked towards Zoe hopefully, but when Zoe shook her head, Maddie scrunched up her face and readied herself for a scream. Instead, a delighted laugh came out when Lofty tripped over. He'd been stood behind Sue trying to read what she'd written, but when he'd taken a step closer he'd got his foot stuck in the handle of her bag.

As Maddie continued to giggle, Sue stood up. "I can see that I'm making everyone nervous, so I'm going to go, but I will be back again in a week. I came today to check that Maddie is being looked after well, which she seems to be, and to check neither of you have changed your mind."

"I haven't." Zoe said straight away.

All eyes turned to Max who was staring intently at the bunny still in his hands.

"Of course not." Max replied.

"Very well, I shall get out of your hair." Sue spoke with a smile as she got up to leave.

"I'll see you out." Lofty smiled, as Zoe took Maddie out of her high chair and placed her on the floor next to where she'd put all of her toys.

"Put the kettle on please." Zoe called through to Max in the kitchen. Although she joined him seconds later, after she was sure that Maddie was okay. "You didn't seem very sure that this was what you wanted."

"What? A coffee?" Max asked, trying to avoid the conversation while he wasn't quite sure what he wanted.

"No, this. You didn't sound certain that you wanted this life with Maddie and me."

"I do, I just... There's not much milk left, I should go and get some."

As he took a step towards the door, Zoe put an arm up to stop him. "Just what?"

Max sighed and rubbed his neck. "It doesn't matter."

"It matters to me. Maddie is officially in your care, and if you say no, there's no way they'd give her to just me."

"I DO want her. I do want this."

"But?"

"Zoe..."

"Tell me!"

"...I'm just a bit jealous, ok? I find it hard enough to get any of your attention when it's just me."


	20. Chapter 20

"I didn't know you felt that way. I love you Max, you know that." Zoe replied, searching his face for any sign of acknowledgement that he did know that she loved him. When it didn't come, she felt her heart shatter. "Of course I love you Max, I have no idea what I'd do without you. I hate it whenever I'm not with you and if you went through my phone you'd find as many photos of you as there are of me on your phone."

"I love you too." Was all that Max could reply.

"I'll make more time for you, we just need to adjust to there being three of us and not just us. We can do family things together and then we have all night whilst Maddie's asleep and we can have nights out without her." Zoe explained before she pulled Max into her arms. "I really love you."

Max just nodded. The words he'd waited so long to hear, yet he felt they were tainted now because they didn't happen spontaneously, only appearing when there was something she needed from him. "But we really do need milk"

Before Zoe could reply, Lofty walked back in with a grin. "I pretended to trip again and got a look at her form. From what I read, she really likes you both, even wrote that the way you look at Zoe is touching."

Max rolled his eyes and grabbed his car keys from the table. "We all know you didn't fake trip, Lofty. Come with me to the shop and buy your own food, because you're not having any more of ours."

"Are you alright?" Lofty asked as they walked down the road to the big Tesco at the end of the road.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Max asked, looking up from where his eyes were fixed on the ground.

"You've gone from seeing Maddie weekly and Zoe being in the dark about her, to having Maddie live with you. You were Zax and now you're Zaddie." He said, causing both to laugh.

"Zaddie? Come on, you can do better than that." Max laughed, taking his hands out of his pockets as they reached the shop.

"Mox?"

"That sounds like an illness, I think Zaddie was the better option."

"I'm going to think of one so brilliant that everyone will be using it. You'll see." Lofty grinned as Max approached the chocolate and began putting Curly Wurlys into the trolley.

...

Tired from her time at the park, Maddie went to sleep straight away at home and left Zoe looking around the house for something to do. Feeling as though she needed to start getting involved in household chores, she found that Max had done everything from the ironing to making the bed. She had always taken from granted that these things happened, but she'd only just realised it was Max, quietly working in the background, who'd done it all.

...

"What about this?" Lofty held up a bag of cat food.

"Lofty, we don't even have a cat! You're terrible at shopping, remind me never to bring you again."

"I'm just trying to make sure we don't forget anything. Do we need any more nappies?"

"Call Zoe and ask her."

"I can't call Zoe! You do it."

"Can't, forgot my phone."

"You're useless sometimes, you know that?" Max muttered.

"Well I suppose you can never have too many nappies when you have a baby." Lofty replied, dumping a packet of nappies in the trolley.

...

Zoe removed the pink bunny from the washing machine as the cycle came to an end. All of the dirty marks had disappeared from the fluffy fur, walking through to the nursery she noted that Maddie was still out for the count before she placed the bunny at the end of the crib. For a moment she just watched Maddie, she couldn't explain the love she felt for her. Normally, love was something that happened and quite shallowly for Zoe. Max had changed the falling shallowly when she'd fallen so deeply in love with him, and now with Maddie she'd defeated the odds, and loved the little girl so much after just one day.

An hour later, Lofty called out, "WE'RE HOME!" As he opened the front door.

Behind him, Max hit lofty with a bag. "Shut up! What if Maddie is still asleep?!"

"Didn't think of that. Sorry mate. I'll leave this inside the door and go and get some more bags for the car."

After Lofty rushed off, eager to get away in case Zoe was angry with him for yelling, Max picked up the bags and walked towards the kitchen.

"Do you need any help?" Zoe asked as she appeared in the kitchen.

"Do you even know where things other than the wine and coffee go?" Max teased. Zoe took one of the bags from the floor and started putting various items in their correct place.

"You didn't get much." Zoe commented, and then Lofty walked in carrying more bags. "I take that back."

"Is Maddie still asleep?" Max asked, noting a sheepish looking Lofty hanging back slightly.

"Yeah, pretty sure she could sleep through anything." She laughed, both herself and Max had seemed to do a lot more laughing now that Maddie was around. Both were happy, yes they had blips were they doubted themselves, but their happiness was infectious.


	21. Chapter 21

Once the shopping was away, Max was tasked with waking Maddie but as he walked into the nursery he found her sat up and mumbling sounds to her bunny.

When she heard Max and looked up, he smiled and approached her. "You know what? I think bunny needs a proper name. How about-"

As Max paused to think of a name, Maddie offered, "Bumby."

"Good idea! Come on, bumby." Max picked up Maddie and then the rabbit, shutting his eyes for a moment at the comforting warmth Maddie provided and the slight scent of Zoe's perfume on her.

...

"Listen, I'm sorry about us getting in your hair, Zoe." Lofty looked towards her with a worried expression. "We will be out of your hair as soon as we can, it's just we can't stay at a hotel until we've been paid, and then that money will go on replacing all the things we lost. The landlord isn't being at all helpful, either. He refuses to tell us when or even if he's going to fix the place up. Robyn wants to get an apartment here so she can come over all the time, but I'm trying to convince her that's a terrible idea."

"Well why don't you get a lawyer to look over your tenancy agreement and see if you can force your landlord into action?"

"We can't afford a lawyer." Lofty sighed.

"Well I'll pay." Zoe offered.

"I can't let you do that Zoe."

"Robyn is family and you might as well be, anyway I need a favour in return."

"What?"

"Once Maddie is asleep, could you and Robyn stay in and watch her? I think Max and I need to go out. She probably won't wake up for the first few hours, and we won't be too long. Just don't tell Max."

"Of course, Robyn will love that."

"Robyn will love what?" Max asked, entering the room.

"..These." Lofty held up the bag of Curly Wurlys.

"Then she can get her own." Max took the bag from him and passed it to Zoe. "Guess what we've called the rabbit?"

"Zaddie?" Lofty asked hopefully.

"Stop trying to make that happen, Lofty!"

"Zaddie?" Zoe questioned.

"Well it was Zax and now it's you, Max and Maddie. It's a mixture of all of your names." Lofty explained.

"You do realise that it sounds like Max isn't in there. It just sounds like a mixture of my name and Maddie's." Zoe pointed out, smiling as she saw Maddie rest her head on Max's shoulder.

"I'll come up with something better." Lofty sighed as he left for his bedroom.

"So what's the bunny's name?" Zoe asked, as Maddie lifted her head and shouted excitedly.

"Bumby!"

...

After Max put Maddie down for a sleep that evening, he flopped onto the couch and shut his eyes. "How exactly is a child more tiring that pushing huge old men around on trolley's all day?"

"You need to change your t-shirt." Robyn supplied.

Yawning, Max looked down at his t-shirt which had some dried drool and a few other things he couldn't quite identify. "Why? I'm going to bed in a minute if I can get up."

"No, you're not. There's something on the bed in the spare room you need to put on."

Max frowned, then suddenly realised he hadn't seen Zoe in a little while. "What's going on?"

"What have you got planned?" He whispered to no one as he looked down at the shirt and tie. Changing quickly, he looked at his phone, and found a text from his wife.

'I'm down by my car, come down. We're having a night out xx'

'A shirt and tie? Really? xx'

'Stop moaning and come down xx'

"Are you okay looking after Maddie? She shouldn't wake up, but if she does you know where the nappies are and there's milk in the fridge or she might just want a cuddle. Ring me or Zoe if there's a problem." Max said to Robyn, making sure he didn't forget anything important as he was now ready to leave. "Oh and she's had her medicine so she won't need that."

"I've had all of this from Zoe too, I can look after her. Now go and have fun."

Max walked quickly out to the car and got in, smiling as he saw the dress that Zoe was wearing.

"That's my favourite dress on you."

"I know." Zoe smiled, stretching up to kiss him. "I'm going to let you drive, too."

"Well, what have I done to be allowed to do something as exciting as that?" Max smirked, pulling Zoe close to kiss her again.

"You'll find out soon enough. The address is on the GPS."

"Or we could just stay here and..." Max left it hanging in the air, his lips descending on Zoe's again.

"Well, if you don't want your surprise..."


	22. Chapter 22

As he began driving, following the GPS as he went, be started to wonder what there was in this direction that could possibly be his surprise.

"Are you going to tell me where we're going yet?" He asked, causing a devilish smile to cross his wife's face.

"No, what would be the fun in that?" She teased.

"I can think of a way." He replied suggestively as he placed a hand on her thigh.

"Not really any point, we'll be there in a couple of minutes." She pointed out.

As the car pulled into the car park where the sat nav had been programmed to, Zoe watched him intently hoping for a good reaction. Max looked around as he turned the engine off, nothing around seemed like anything he wanted to do, and then he spotted the building behind him.

"But...but how?" Max spoke, his excitement peaking. He'd tried every week to get them a table at the new 5* restaurant and yet every time they'd been fully booked for months in advance.

"I pulled a few strings, do you like your surprise?"

Max didn't reply, just pulled her close to kiss her once more.

10 minutes later Max walked into the restaurant a few steps ahead of Zoe who was adjusting her dress and making sure her lipstick was still in place.

"Hi, we have a reservation."

"Name?"

Max turned to Zoe who gave a slight smile. "Zax."

As the waiter nodded and turned to show them to their seat, Max grinned at Zoe and took her hand.

...

"They said she wouldn't wake up." Robyn tried as Lofty sighed.

"Well she has, they said she'd either want a cuddle, milk or her nappy changing!" Lofty repeated the words from only an hour earlier.

"Zoo!" Maddie screamed as she cried.

"I'm sorry, she's not here. She'll be back later." Robyn told the girl, trying her best to make her voice soothing. "Lofty, can you go and get the milk please? Cuddles aren't working."

...

"So what's so special about this place?" Zoe asked as she glanced at the menu.

"The steak is supposed to be out of this world and the cocktails to die for." Max explained.

"Okay, well you can have cocktails but I'll have a glass of wine and then have soft drinks, I'll drive home."

"Well, that's an offer I never expected to hear from you. Sounds like having a child might have finally made the infamous Dr Hanna settle down."

When Zoe looked up and raised an eyebrow at Max, he winked at her and linked their fingers on top of the table before picking up his menu.

...

At home, Maddie continued to scream for Zoe, which made her cough and begin to go red in the face.

"Perhaps we should call them..."

"Lofty! We're nurses, we should be able to deal with one tiny baby. Go and get something of Zoe's, maybe that blanket from their bed. It might calm her down."

"It's their room, it kind of feels like an invasion of their privacy." Lofty argued.

"Right now I don't care, Maddie's upset." Robyn replied and yet Lofty remained where he had been standing. "Fine. I'll do it." Robyn gave up and handed Maddie to Lofty whilst she headed for her brother's bedroom. Taking the blanket off of their bed she walked back through to the nursery. "Put her in the cot and I'll cover her with this."

...

"Are you ready to place your order?" A girl in her mid-twenties asked the loved up couple.

"Can I have the steak and potato please? Zoe asked.

"How would you like it done?"

"Medium rare please."

"And you sir?" The waitress asked.

"Can I have the same please?"

"You can. Any anything to drink?"

"Red wine, please." Zoe replied.

"Sex in a cupboard for me."

The waitress blinked and stopped writing, but it took a moment for Max to realise what he'd said, and for the first time ever so saw a blush beginning to creep onto his face. "Ah sorry, I meant sex on the beach."

As the waitress nodded and rushed away, Zoe smirked. "I bet I can guess what you were just thinking about."

..

"Robyn, it's not working and she feels really warm. Maybe we should just call them."

As Robyn went to disagree, Maddie was sick on the blanket.


	23. Chapter 23

Robyn looked down at Maddie who had been sick everywhere. Taking the pyjamas off of the little girl, she handed them and the bedding, plus Zoe and Max's blanket, to Lofty to put in the washing machine.

"What am I supposed to do with these?" Lofty asked, momentarily confused as he looked at Maddie and then at Robyn, who had concern painted across her face.

"Put them in the washing machine, I'll get her changed and change her bedding." Robyn explained, taking control of the situation.

"And then we'll call Max or Zoe?" Lofty asked hopefully.

"We'll see. We can deal with a bit of sick Loft, we are nurses after all."

...

"So did you get much paperwork done earlier?" Max asked, not sure what else to discuss now that their lives were centred around Maddie.

"A bit, I got bored, even tried to do some housework but found it was all done. You're like a little househusband."

"Don't get used to it, now that you've settled down I'm expecting great things of you."

"Just to remind you, I'm still the same person who tried to use the washing machine a few weeks ago and flooded the laundry."

"Good point. We might start you off on something simpler. We can't all be good at everything, I suppose."

"What, like you are?"

"You've noticed, then?" Max grinned as Zoe rolled her eyes.

...

Maddie had stopped screaming now and was lying silently in Robyn's arms, her eyes half closed. "See, I told you she'd calm down."

"She still feels really hot, Robyn. Maybe I could call Tess instead, ask her what we can do?"

"What's her temperature?" Robyn asked, gesturing towards the thermometer on the side.

"38.5" Lofty told her as he grabbed the thermometer and placed it gently in Maddie's ear.

"Phone Tess." Was all Robyn could say, he grabbed his phone and immediately dialled Tess.

"Hi Lofty." Tess answered sleepily, as if she'd been woken up by the ringing off her phone.

"Sorry to disturb you but we need some help."

"What's wrong?" Tess asked, her voice sounding a lot more awake and anxious as Lofty explained that Maddie had been sick and was running a temperature. "What has Zoe said about it?"

"We haven't told her, her and Max are on a date." Robyn supplied.

"Well why are you ringing me and not one of them?" Tess asked, genuinely confused about what she could do.

"I don't know, I thought maybe you'd know what we could do."

"Have you given her something to lower her fever?"

"Yes, about an hour ago, but it didn't help."

"I really think you should call Zoe, Lofty."

...

Exiting the bathroom, Zoe banged into someone and looked to find Max grinning down at her. Matching his grin, Zoe raised her eyebrows. "What are you doing back here? I thought you were ordering dessert."

"I already did, I just thought there was another sort of dessert I might get while we're waiting."

"Max, I'm a professional woman with an important job. I don't do making out in restaurant corridors." Zoe smirked.

"How about as an overtired mother who loves her husband VERY much?"

When he said the word mother, Zoe's heart jumped, surprising Max when she burst into tears.

"Zoe what's up?" Max asked, trying to comfort his wife as he softly stroked her hand.

"Can we go home?" Zoe cried.

"Yeah, you go and get in the car and I'll pay the bill." Max told her and then watched as Zoe walked out of the building, whilst keeping her head down so no one saw the tears. "Can I have the bill please?" Max asked the waitress that had been looking after them all night.

"Of course sir, I'll be back in a moment." She told him and then left to go to the till. From his pocket he felt his phone vibrate, pulling it out he found that Robyn was calling.

"Hi, what's up?" Max answered.

"It's Maddie. She's being sick everywhere and her temperature is high." Robyn explained.

"Oh. Erm. We're just paying the bill and we'll be back soon." Was all Max could offer as a response.

"Should we do anything? We don't know what to do. Tess said to call you..."

"You're the nurse Robyn, not me!"

"I know, but I thought maybe… I don't know. Is Zoe there?"

"She's gone out the car. I'll call you back in a minute."

Max waited impatiently for his card to be accepted then he jogged to the car.

...

"Maybe we should take her to the ED? It's close, and they'd get there sooner than they'd get here..." Lofty mumbled as Robyn paced.


	24. Chapter 24

"Yes Lofty but neither of us can drive, he said Zoe would ring us in a minute." Robyn pointed out.

...

"What's wrong?" Zoe asked as Max jogged to the car.

"As much as I wanted to talk about what was wrong with you, you need to ring Robyn. Maddie's sick." Max said as settled in the passenger's seat and put his seatbelt.

"My phones dead." Zoe sighed and took Max's phone from where he'd just payed it down. "Hi, Robyn it's me." Zoe greeted as the phone rang for a couple seconds before Robyn answered.

"We don't know what to do Zoe, she keeps vomiting, her temperature is 38.5 and she's been screaming for you."

"How long for?" Zoe questioned, wondering what course of action to take.

"Well it's been an hour since she woke up but half an hour since she started being sick."

"And you're not just calling us?!" Zoe asked angrily.

"We didn't want to disturb you, we thought she'd be okay."

"Okay, we'll be home in 15 minutes."

"Do you want me to do anything until you come home?" Robyn asked as she looked down at Maddie in her arms.

"Place a cold flannel across her forehead and I'll assess the situation when I get there. See you soon." Zoe put the phone down and sighed, and was immediately thankful that she'd only had one drink.

Max knew by now that Zoe often picked up on his nerves, so he tried to remain still and calm on the outside, though his mind was racing. When they got caught in a traffic jam, he began drumming his fingers on his leg.

When they finally reached home, it appeared all the parking spaces were full and both were becoming more and more agitated. "You go, I'll find somewhere to park and follow you up." Max finally offered.

Zoe glanced at him, nodded and put the brake on before dashing towards the apartment.

"Robyn?" Zoe called as she pushed the front door open, her heart racing. "Where is she?" Zoe asked, trying to get her breath.

"In the nursery with Lofty, she's not crying and he's got a flannel on her forehead. It's not bringing her temperature down but she looks less visibly hot." Robyn told her as she rushed through to the nursery.

"Zoo." Maddie mumbled, her throat too sore to scream or shout anymore.

"What's wrong baby?" Zoe asked as she scooped Maddie up from Lofty's arms. The little girl looked visibly sick, but what Zoe hadn't been expecting was for Maddie to be sick down her.

Max entered the room just as it happened and he stopped mid-step, staring at the scene in front of him for a moment before stepping into gear. Grabbing a cloth, he was going to hand it to Zoe and take Maddie while she cleaned herself, but seeing the grip Maddie had on her he changed his mind and instead began blotting at Zoe's dress himself before placing a cloth over her shoulder for Maddie to rest against.

"I'm sorry. We did our best, but I just didn't know what else to do." Robyn stood in the doorway, tears in her eyes.

In Zoe's arms, Maddie began to cry softly.

"Do we have any liquid paracetamol in the cupboard?" Zoe asked, taking charge of the situation.

"No, because before yesterday none of us were under 5." Max replied, wondering why on earth they thought that that would be something they had.

"Can someone quickly drive down to the shop? Not you Max, you're over the limit."

"I'll go. I can't drive, but I'll run. Won't be long." Robyn replied, she was feeling guilty and was desperate to do anything to help.

"Is there anything I can do Zo?" Max asked, he felt out of his depth. Zoe knew exactly what to do, whilst he had no knowledge of medicine.

"Mm, could you get another cold flannel? This one is warm now."

Max nodded, rushing from the room.

Lofty was still stood in the corner holding Maddie's rabbit, still unsure what to do. "Zoe-"

In no mood to offer comfort anyone else, Zoe snapped at him, "Just go."

Putting his head down, Lofty rushed from the room, pushing the bunny into a returning Max's hand.

Max glanced after him, then replaced the warm cloth with another cool one. When Maddie attempted to give him a smile, he raised a hand to stroke her cheek, his other hand gripping the back of Zoe's dress tightly.

He kissed both the top of Maddie's head then Zoe's and looked between his two girls.

"I think she'll be okay." Zoe finally spoke as Maddie began to drift off slightly in her arms.

"Zoe stop it." Max finally sighed, causing Zoe to stare at him with confusion. "I can feel the guilt radiating from you, she's not ill because of anything you did and she'd have still been sick tonight if we'd have stayed in. Now do you want to tell me what was up earlier? You burst into tears and the Zoe I know doesn't do that."

"I don't think now is the time Max." Zoe replied, looking down at Maddie in her arms as she moved slightly to sit in the corner of the room, being careful not to disturb Maddie as she did.

"She's asleep, Robyn's not back yet. It's the perfect time, there will never be a right time for discussing your emotions but we're going to do it anyway."

"Can you get me another blanket? It's cold in here."

Max sighed but left the room to get her one anyway.

In her sleep Maddie gripped tighter to Zoe and tried to snuggle into her even further, but as soon as Zoe started talking softly to her, Maddie relaxed again.

"I'll swap you a blanket for an explanation." But as Max held out the blanket, Robyn entered breathlessly.

"I've got some."


	25. Chapter 25

"Thank you." Zoe replied. "I'll gently wake her, can you measure the right amount for her size into the syringe please?" Zoe asked the younger nurse, almost slipping back into work mode. "Maddie?" Zoe tried to gently speak to the sleeping infant who was curled up into her.

"I've got it done." Robyn called out but Maddie was still awake.

"Do we have to wake her?" Max asked from the corner, not understanding why if Maddie was well enough to sleep now, why they weren't leaving her alone.

"Yes, she's got a fever Max." Zoe whispered angrily. "Maddie sweetie." Zoe called gently, touching Maddie's arm as she did and gently shaking it. "I don't need you to wake up properly, just open your mouth for my darling."

As Maddie finally grumbled and opened her mouth to cry, Max slipped from the room.

Looking up, Lofty frowned when he saw Max grab his keys. "Where are you going?"

Without a reply, Max left the house.

In the bedroom, Maddie made a face at the taste of the medicine, but took it all the same then snuggled back into Zoe, shutting her eyes again.

"Robyn, can you help me please?" Zoe asked as Robyn stood watching Maddie sleep in Zoe's arms.

"Yeah sure, what do you want me to do?" Asked the bubbly nurse.

"Can you gently try and prise her off of me and put in her in the cot?"

...

Max walked aimlessly around the streets of Holby, he had little idea of where he was heading but the thought of being at home was not one that was appealing. It wasn't long before he found himself in front of Robyn and Lofty's burned down house, and found part of himself wishing that he could go back to just before the fire. It wasn't that he didn't love Maddie, he loved her so much, and he just couldn't quite deal with the guilt he felt at how he had chosen Zoe over her. Zoe was the love of his life, there was no doubt about that and their marriage was strong. The bond between Zoe and Maddie was one source of the jealousy he was feeling but it also came down to how little time Zoe had for anyone but Maddie, even after just two days.

...

Maddie was soon asleep once more, cuddled up to her toy. After leaving the room, Robyn said quietly to Zoe "Did you manage to get all your dinner? If not, I can make you something."

"I'm fine, thanks. Where's Max?"

Lofty glanced towards the door as though he was hoping Max would appear. "He went out a while ago."

Looking down at her phone she found a text that she'd missed from Max.

'I'll be back later. Just need some space.'

"Did he seem okay?" Zoe asked, looking up at Lofty as she typed a response.

"Not really."

...

'Please come home Max, we can talk. Let me in x' Max read as he looked at the dying phone in his hand. He sat on the grass outside his one-time home and put his phone back into his pocket.

"Max?" Cal asked warily as he walked past the burnt down house.

"What are you doing out?" Max asked as he stood back up.

"New girlfriend lives at the bottom of the road, I could ask you the same. You have a stunning wife and a baby I hear, what are you doing sat outside the remains of a house?"

"It's complicated."

"Isn't it always? That didn't seem to stop you chasing after Zoe for months on end until you wore her down."

"Yeah well, maybe that was a mistake."

Frowning, Cal approached and leant next to Max against the fence. "What do you mean?"

"Maybe the feels I have aren't reciprocated. Or at least enough. Maybe there's no point."

"Max-" Cal began.

"Don't suppose you want to go to the pub?"

"I think you've probably had enough. Why don't I drive you home? My car is just down there."

"Do I want to know why you didn't just drive all the way to your girlfriend's house?"

"Probably not."

Maddie didn't seemed to stir again as Zoe checked on her once more before changing into her pyjamas and returning back to the sitting room. Robyn and Lofty had gone to bed hours ago and yet Zoe had stayed up, waiting for Max to return home. She couldn't sleep without him and today she didn't want to, knowing they needed to talk she'd sat on the sofa with a coffee.

...

"How long have you been out?" Cal asked, breaking the awkward silence that had descended on the car. Max looked at the time on the car dashboard, before considering his answer.

"A few hours." Came the curt reply from the porter.

"You've been overthinking things Max, we both know that Zoe adores you. I'm guessing she's not making enough time for you with the baby around, and you're jealous?" Cal guessed, when he didn't get a reply, he continued. "All new mums do, you just need to suck it up and you'll all learn to find a balance."


	26. Chapter 26

"Zoe doesn't do balance. She never has." Max sighed as they reached the apartment building. "Thanks for the loft."

...

When he reached the front door Mac sighed again then pushed it open. Now stone cold sober, he was reluctant to go back inside but knew he had to. He was relieved to find the place in darkness.

He checked on Maddie before walking towards the bedroom.

Zoe was fast asleep in the centre of the bed, the space that she seemed to revert to occupying whenever Max wasn't there. He stood watching her for a second, the woman he loved, he thought about his earlier statement to Cal about Zoe not doing balance. He remembered a time when Zoe didn't do relationships, a time where she didn't do marriage and a time where she didn't do children, all of that had changed. Hope seemed to erupt like a fire in his tummy as he continued to watch Zoe for a second.

"Max?" Zoe mumbled, although whether she was talking in her sleep or was half awake, wasn't immediately obvious to him. "I'm sorry." She continued as she mumbled the word that so rarely fell from her lips. Undressing, Max slipped into bed beside her, Zoe instantly moving back over to her side of the bed to accommodate him.

"What for?" Max asked as he moved closer to her.

"I don't know, whatever I've done to make you like this." Zoe admitted sleepily, apologies were rare from Zoe but her apologising when she didn't feel desperately in the wrong was almost unheard of.

Max leant down and dropped a gentle kiss to her shoulder. "I love you."

Zoe gave a slight smile and opened her eyes. "I'm scared, Max."

"Scared of what Zoe?" Max asked quietly, his voice almost a whisper as he tried to get even closer to his wife.

"Of losing Maddie, of messing up with Maddie, of losing you."

"You aren't going to lose me." Max reassured her, placing a kiss to the top of her forehead as he finished speaking.

"Really? Because you've been different with me since Maddie arrived. You hadn't stormed out since we first moved in together." Zoe interrupted, trying to wriggle out of Max's grasp to try and soothe some of the hurt she felt.

"I'm scared too." Max whispered, his voice so quiet that it just felt like a vibration in the air, but Zoe heard it as loud as if he'd shouted it. Max didn't admit fear, he was the one who held everything together, he kept the world safe for Zoe but his admission of fear knocked her for six.

Neither of them spoke for a moment, but Max kept a tight grip on Zoe. Finally she sighed his name and captured his lips with her own.

...

Max was due to work the next morning, so he rose quietly and got dressed. If Zoe was asleep he usually left without waking her, but after last night he knew he should. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he lifted a hand to her cheek. "Zo."

Zoe frowned a little. "Mm?"

"I need to go to work. I've sorted out breakfast and lunch for you both, they just need heating."

When Zoe's eyes flickered open, she found max finally looked like the old him- more relaxed, the permanent frown from his forehead gone.

As Zoe stared at him, he suddenly felt self-conscious and turned to the mirror, worrying that he'd spilt something down his top.

"Have I got something on my face?" He asked as he rubbed at his face anyway.

"No, you just look happy." Zoe replied, sitting up slightly despite the early time.

"I have my two favourite girls, what's not to be happy about?" He sang.

"A lecture from Connie when you get to work because you're late." Zoe laughed as she caught sight of the time.

...

Maddie's cry sounded through the house half an hour after Max had finally left. Robyn and Lofty had gone in too, meaning Zoe was alone with Maddie.

"It's just you and me today baby girl." Zoe smiled as she took Maddie from her crib and laid her on the changing table. "Someone looks better than last night." Zoe commented as Maddie lay giggling. "Right that's a clean nappy, let's get your food that Max made and then we can do bath and then the world is our oyster for the day Mads." This motherhood thing was beginning to suit Zoe as she looked in the mirror and saw that she looked like a mum. The tight dresses had gone today and been replaced by a woollen jumper and leggings while her hair was tied back. The sound of the doorbell made her jump as she carried Maddie out of the nursery. Instead of making her way to the kitchen she was now opening the door, sure that it would be someone trying to sell her something, instead she found Sue, Maddie's social worker.

As soon as she saw Sue, Maddie gripped onto Zoe tighter and the song she'd been singing herself was stopped mid babble.

"..Sue."

"Hi. I know you weren't expecting me, but I have a couple of hours spare, and there's something I'd like to show you."

"..Right, well. Come in. Max isn't here."

Sue stepped past Zoe and walked towards the lounge. "I know, he emailed me your schedules a few days ago, but it was you I really wanted to see. How is Maddie?"

"Fine. We were just about to have breakfast, actually."

"Well you carry on, I'll set up in here."

Set up? Zoe thought to herself, but took Maddie into the kitchen and began preparing their breakfast. As Maddie ate hers messily with the Winnie the Pooh spoon Max had brought her, Zoe sent him a message.

"Sue is here, she says she has something to show me."

'Don't panic, just go with the flow Zo x'

Came the instant reply of Max, leaving Zoe wondering just how much work her husband actually did. Dropping her phone down onto the work surface she took Maddie from her high chair and walked through to where Sue was sat spreading items across the coffee table.


	27. Chapter 27

"Is this going to take long?" Zoe asked, knowing that she needed to bath Maddie and then get her changed.

"Not really no, I just wanted to make sure you had these and that Maddie could see them." Sue explained, Zoe however had zoned out slightly as she saw the pictures of a young woman across her coffee table. The woman was blonde, but other than that was the spitting image of Maddie. Several photos depicted the woman in various pubs and clubs with glasses in her hands. "This is Chrissie, Maddie's birth mother."

Zoe sat down slowly with Maddie on her lap, allowing Sue to hand her some photos. In a few of them was a young Max with various hairstyles and a grin always on his face. As the photos progressed, Max disappeared and Chrissie got thinner. Then suddenly a baby bump appeared. In the last photo, Chrissie was in a hospital bed with wires attached to her everywhere and a tiny baby in her arms. The rest of the photos were of Maddie, always alone, over the past year.

"I just wanted you to understand where we're coming from. The first time I met Maddie, she was 2 hours old and her mother had just died. She's always been a quiet child and she's never bonded with anyone except for Max and of course Joanna, and even then she was always wary of her. You are the first person she's really connected with."

Zoe looked down at the child who was sat in her lap, trying to put the corner of a photo in her mouth. Whilst the pictures had reminded Zoe that she was biologically nothing to do with Maddie, and that she was not her mother, Sue's words had made her feel better again. Taking the photo gently from Maddie, she placed it back on the coffee table and looked at Sue.

"Would you like a drink?" Zoe asked, realising that Sue wasn't as scary as she'd first seemed.

"Well I had only come to drop these off." Sue started, gesturing to the photos laid out in front of her. "I suppose there's a few questions that I need to ask that would do no harm to ask now and not later."

"So, drink?"

"Just a glass of water please." Sue replied.

...

"How's it all going?" Cal asked as he bumped into Max. The cheeky grin that had been missing the previous night, was firmly back across his face as he'd transferred patients to where they'd needed to be.

"Amazingly."

Cal grinned back. "So everything better, then?"

"Look at this." Max pulled out his phone.

"It's not a nude of Zoe, is it?"

Max rolled his eyes and showed him the video Zoe had just sent of her and Maddie blowing him a kiss.

"Did she call you Mac?" Was the only thing Cal asked.

"Yes."

"Right, so I guess that would make you...Little Mac?"

"Funny."

...

Growing bored as Sue asked questions, Maddie slipped onto the floor and crawled about, every so often bringing something back and watching intently until Zoe picked it up and then she'd give a smile.

"Well I suppose that's all for today." Sue smiled as she looked up from her notebook to Zoe, who was now sat on the floor with Maddie's bunny on her lap half playing with Maddie but half listening to Sue.

"What happens now?" Zoe asked, the butterflies awakening in Zoe's tummy again as once again she thought of the future.

"Well she seems happy and you seem happy and from what you tell me, Max is too. Obviously I'll need to find some time to catch up with him to confirm that but so far it's all positive. You go back to work on Monday and we can reassess things sometime next week to see how things are when life is somewhat normal for you."

"What do you mean?" Zoe asked, moving the bunny from her lap and passing it to Maddie before standing up.

"Well it's great that you've been off to bond with Maddie and get her settled, but next week will be what your life is normally like. You have a highly stressful job and long hours, we need to see how you work an 11 month old into that and what happens." Sue explained. The butterflies in Zoe's stomach seemed to have worsened as if they were doing some sort of choreographed dance in her tummy.

Noticing a change in Zoe's face, Maddie shuffled over to her and did what she'd seen Max do- she squeezed Zoe's hand. Zoe smiled down at her and reached out to stroke Maddie's cheek.

"Right, I'll let myself out. Try not to worry, Zoe. You're doing really well."

At the hospital, Max kept glancing at his phone, wondering what Sue was doing that was taking so long. Then he began to worry that Sue had left and Zoe was freaking out. After he'd thought of every possible scenario, he finally sent her a message. Why don't you and Maddie come and join me for lunch? I'd like to show my girls off.

Zoe just sat on the sofa, Maddie curled in beside her and tightly gripping one of Zoe's fingers as she watched the moving images on the TV. Her phone buzzed from somewhere in the room, making both her and Maddie jump slightly. Gently trying to untangle her finger from Maddie's hand, she tickled her with her spare hand and smiled slightly as Maddie began to laugh and let go of her finger. Having located her phone to the coffee table, she found her eyes resting upon the shoebox that contained Maddie's history. While the box contained her history, which was obviously important, she had once been sure that the little girl's future lay with herself and Max, but once again she was doubting whether she was actually capable of that.

"Zoo." Maddie mumbled randomly, as she continued to look at the screen and not at Zoe.

"I'm going to take you to the zoo one day and remind you that you called me Zoo." Zoe laughed but internally scolded herself for looking too far into the future again. Picking her phone up, she noticed that the beep had been caused by a text from Max.

'I just need to bath her but then we'll come over. We'll bring sandwiches and picnic food and meet you in my office at 1?'

Looking at the clock, she noticed that it was now half 10.

"Okay misses, bath time."

Maddie grumbled, intent on watching what was on TV. When Zoe picked her up, Maddie yelled "Mama!"

Zoe froze, unsure if she'd misheard or just wishing she'd heard it. After a few seconds of watching the TV over Zoe's shoulder, Maddie repeated herself, pointing to the TV where one of the characters was singing to their mother. Zoe shut her eyes. Though she knew Maddie wasn't talking to her, just for a moment she could imagine she was. Zoe had always dreamed one day she would be called that.


	28. Chapter 28

In the bath a short time later, Maddie hit the water with her hands, smiling up at Zoe as she attempted the song from the TV, though the only words she could recreate was Mama and 'lub', which Zoe had taken to mean love. When she noticed the water she was splashing hit Zoe, Maddie was silent for a moment then gave a delighted giggle.

Squeezing a small amount of shampoo into her hands, she couldn't help but laugh as Maddie's laughter became contagious. Gently she massaged the shampoo into Maddie's hair and proceeded to wash it out once she'd finished.

...

"Max, I do not pay you to text all day." Came Connie's voice as she appeared in the staffroom to refill her mug.

"I'm pretty sure it's not you who pays me at all." Max replied, smiling to ease his words. "Zoe and Maddie are coming in at 1." He told her.

"Is Zoe still coming back to work on Monday?" Connie asked as the kettle boiled.

"Yeah."

"And where will Maddie be going?" She asked, voicing Max's question.

"We aren't sure yet."

...

Zoe looked around, Maddie was dressed and in her buggy. The weather didn't look too bad outside and as the ED wasn't far away from her house, she'd decided that they could walk there. In the bag she had with her she had nappies, a cup for Maddie, the bunny and several dummies just in case. This was the first time that she'd gone out with Maddie on her own and she had a feeling inside that she was forgetting something. Looking inside her own handbag she found her phone but realised that she had in fact forgotten her house keys.

Max waited outside, checking his phone every few seconds. He was jolted from his thoughts by Robyn joining him. "Are they here yet."

"Obviously not. And I don't think she'd want a welcoming party." He added as first Tess and then Charlie joined them.

"We just want to say hello." Tess offered, then handed him a brochure. "For the hospital crèche. They have a space available, and they are open 24 hours a day."

"Thanks, Tess."

She smiled and rubbed Max's arm. "You two are doing fine, Max. I promise. Most people have months to get used to the idea, and you two haven't had long, so you're both bound to be nervous. Just remember that I'm a phone call away."

...

As Zoe came closer to the ED she half wondered what she was doing. It seemed odd that she was pushing a pram towards her place of work, it was something that she had never expected. As the hospital came into sight, Maddie began to cry.

"What's up baby?" Zoe asked as she stopped and bent down in front of Maddie. "Are you hungry princess?" Zoe asked, and assumed that she was seeing as it had been a while since breakfast. "Well we'll see Max in a minute and we'll eat the food that we just bought." Zoe soothed her, but instead ended up carrying Maddie and trying to push the pram to the entrance of the ED.

The welcoming party held back a little as Max walked closer and tried to take the pram from Zoe.

"I'll take it, you can take Mads. You haven't seen her all morning." Zoe replied, as she handed Maddie over to her husband and continued to push the pram. Upon Max taking her, the members of the welcoming party rushed forward to greet Maddie.

"I'd feel privileged if I was you Mads, they never care about Zoe or me when we arrive." Max told her, causing others to burst out laughing.

"Well when you're as cute as Maddie, we'll greet you." Robyn replied.

"What do you mean when?!" Max asked as he glanced towards Zoe who disappeared inside with the pram.

Maddie like the attention for a short while, but the more people who appeared, the more overwhelmed she got, and she was so burying her face into Max's work shirt.

...

Connie was waiting outside Zoe's office, and when she saw the empty pram she actually looked disappointed. "Forget something?"

Giving a slight smile, Zoe unlocked her office door. "She'd outside with Max. Is there something you needed me for?"

"No, everything is running smoothly in your absence. Well, aside from Max but I'm not sure he's ever done much except follow you around."

"And no one could fault him on his ability to do that." Zoe laughed. "He's good with the patients." She finished when Connie gave her a slight glare.

"Zoo?" Maddie shouted slightly from Max's arms as they walked towards Zoe.

"The zoo? Do you like the animals' sweetie?" Connie asked the little girl who was settling down again in Max's arms now that she could see Zoe.

"She's never been, she calls Zoe Zoo because she can't pronounce the 'e' yet." Max explained, placing a kiss on Maddie's forehead.

"Oh, well have a nice lunch." Connie smiled as she turned on her heel back towards her own office before she stopped. "Max, I expect you to actually do some work this afternoon."

"Of course boss." Max replied cheerily, as he disappeared into Zoe's office.

"You don't mean that do you?" Zoe asked with a smile as he shut the door.

"Not one bit. Do you think Zoo looks like she needs a hug, Maddie? I do."

"No, Max. I-" Zoe began to protest, but was enveloped in his arms anyway, Maddie joining in by giving her a wet kiss on the cheek.

"I've missed you both." Max told her honestly, moving her desk slightly as he pulled away and placing a blanket on the floor to make their lunch more picnic like. "Are you okay Zo?"

"Yep, I think we need to talk after you've finished though. Right now I think it's time we sat and ate because you're lunch time isn't unlimited and I had Maddie crying on the way here because she was hungry." Zoe explained, knowing that she had several things she wanted to tell Max but not in front of Maddie and not in the limited time that they had.

"Okay, I'll hold you to that. So what goodies have you brought me?" Max asked as Zoe produced the shopping bags full of food that she'd bought on her way in.

"I have sandwiches, I have crisps, I have fruit, I have fruit juice and I have chocolate." Zoe listed as she took several items out of the bags that lay in front of her.

Max fed Maddie, his mood from the day before apparently forgotten. Occasionally he leant towards Zoe to kiss her cheek or her shoulder, unable to read her mood.

Half way through lunch, Maddie suddenly proclaimed, "mama zoo!"

Max froze and looked towards Zoe. "Did she-" before he could finish, Maddie repeated herself.


	29. Chapter 29

Zoe looked down at Maddie, her eyes clouding over with tears slightly as she felt her heart swell but break slightly at the same time. Looking back at Max, she stood up and looked towards the door. She knew that she was wrong to leave but she couldn't stand to stay. She loved the little girl and couldn't stand the idea that she could be taken away at any point, she hadn't wanted to get so attached to Maddie and try she had done so without much thought.

As she stood on the other side of the closed door she heard Maddie begin to cry. It broke her heart how Maddie now couldn't be without her unless she was asleep. Her heart was screaming at her to go back into her office and yet her head continued to tell her to get out of the immediate situation.

"Do you make a habit of forgetting your child?" Connie asked as she once again walked past Zoe's office and found her without Maddie.

Unable to stop them, tears fell from Zoe's eyes. Connie paused for a moment before leading the doctor towards the other office

"What's the matter? Has something happened?"

"Aside from a baby suddenly appear in my life out of nowhere?"

"Zoe-"

"I love her. I love her and I wish I didn't because they might not let her stay with us. I've wanted a child for so, so long and I never thought is have the chance. Now I have, but everyone is looking over my shoulder to remind me that maybe I can't keep her. Reminding me that maybe I'm not good enough."

"And you thought that running away might prove that you are good enough?" Connie asked, not quite following Zoe's logic.

"She cries whenever I'm not with her, I want to cry whenever I'm not with her. I love her so much Connie, I've never felt this kind of love before. This morning the social worker told me I was doing well and then said that next week is the real test after she reminded me that I wasn't Maddie's mother. I don't want to lose her and she just called me mama." Zoe rambled, but still the smile crept onto her face as she recounted Maddie calling her mum.

"Tess mentioned something about a hospital crèche, I was busy and wasn't particularly listening, and I was sorting out budgets, but talk to her. When you get back here next week we'll do all we can to help and we're going to do all we can to make sure that Maddie stays where she belongs." Connie assured her. "Go back Zoe."

"I can't."

"Yes you can. Look." She pointed out of the office to where max stood with his back to them asking everyone if they'd seen where Zoe went. Maddie was in his arms holding tightly to her bunny. "That's your family out there and they need you. Be thankful because not everyone has that and you have a real chance."

Taking a deep breath she left the office she'd been in, after she'd wiped away the remnants of tears from her face.

"Zoe?" Max asked cautiously as he saw his wife appear from nowhere. Despite the tears no longer being present across Zoe's face, Max could tell that they had been there.

"Sorry, I needed the toilet." Zoe lied but smiled at her husband anyway. "I've heard rumours that we perhaps need to talk to Tess about the crèche upstairs."

"Yeah, she said they had a space available but we haven't really looked into anything for when we're both at work. She had leaflets and everything."

"Well then maybe we should pop along and see her." Zoe suggested as Max held Maddie out for Zoe to carry, but found that instead she began to lead the way to Tess' office.

Maddie sang to her bunny as they walked, making max smile. Hesitantly he reached out to grasp one of Zoe's hands. "I love you."

Zoe pulled her hand away. "Tess! Max said you were talking about the hospital crèche."

Tess glanced towards max for she could tell Zoe had been crying too. "Ah yeah. I'm about to have my break, we could all go down there and check it out?"

"Yeah. Do you have time Max?" Zoe asked, turning to her husband.

"For anything concerning you or Maddie, always." Max replied and followed Tess up to the crèche.

"Hi, I was up here earlier to ask about your spare place?" Tess asked the young woman who stood up from where she'd been sat between two little boys who were no older than two. Zoe reached for Max's hand instinctively as she looked around the room. Toys were scattered across the room as they were picked up and them dumped when the child got bored.

"Ah of course, Tess Bateman. You must be Max and Zoe Walker?" The woman asked.

"Yeah and this is Maddie." Max told her proudly.

"Well hello Maddie, I'm Caitlin and I'm one of the care assistants here."

Maddie glanced towards Zoe who attempted to look relaxed. When the girl saw Zoe didn't look worried, she gave Caitlin a smile and showed her the bunny.

"Wow, who is this?"

Maddie glanced towards Zoe again before supplying "Bumby."

"Well hello Bumby!"

When Caitlin dropped a kiss to Bumby's nose, Maddie gave a giggle and stopped checking with Zoe.

"We can do a trial, if you'd like? A couple of hours now and you can stay with her and see how we do things?" Caitlin asked.

"Erm yeah okay, how about I stay for half an hour and then leave and come back for the last half an hour?" Zoe asked, wary that Maddie wasn't very good without her and wanted to start leaving her for short periods before Monday.

"Yeah of course." Caitlin told her as Zoe lay Maddie and Bumby on the floor. Immediately another little girl toddled over to her, causing Maddie to look up at Zoe warily. "Maddie, this is Tash." Caitlin introduced them as Tash went to grab Bumby causing Maddie to burst into tears.

"Maddie, it's okay. She just wants to play with you, like when I play with you." Zoe tried to reassure her, but she kept crying. "Or maybe I'll take him and you can play with the other toys." Zoe added as an afterthought as she intervened and took the bunny before finding a chair at the edge of the room. She was determined that she wouldn't intervene again and instead would just observe how Maddie fitted in and whether she seemed happy.


	30. Chapter 30

"Come and find me later and tell me how it goes." max whispered to Zoe, dropping a kiss to her head before he left the room with Tess in tow.

Maddie played with Tash, and then with another child who came over, but she kept glancing towards Zoe to make sure she was still there. Every time Zoe stood to try and leave the room, Maddie burst into tears. Aware that the next week she'd have to leave her for more than a few minutes, Zoe was beginning to panic.

Seeing this, Caitlin put a hand on her arm. "Just go and come back in half an hour. She will be fine by the time you come back, you'll see."

Zoe hesitated and then nodded. Walking away down the corridor while still able to hear Maddie's cries was one of the hardest things she'd ever done.

...

Zoe was planning to get a coffee, but as soon as she got off the elevator, Robyn grabbed her arm. "Sue is here. She said she needed to talk to max about something. I looked in the window and I think he's crying."

Dread began to bubble in the pit of Zoe's stomach

"Where are they?" Zoe asked quietly, her heart had sunk and she had a horrible sick feeling in her stomach. Half of her wanted to go back to the crèche, grab Maddie and run but she knew that wasn't going to achieve a lot.

"Your office, Max didn't think you'd mind." Robyn answered, visibly panicking as she feared for what was going on in the office.

"Don't worry, it'll be okay." Zoe replied, trying to reassure her sister in law while inside she was falling apart. She wasn't sure how loud she was being but everything seemed like a whisper against the loudness of the thoughts in her head.

She walked down to her office and stood where she wasn't quite noticeable but where she could still see in the window enough to get an idea what was going on. What she could see was that Max was indeed crying.

She watched as Sue stood up and hesitated before pulling Max into a hug.

We've lost her. Zoe knew straight away, just like she knew it was something she'd done- it was her fault.

Just as Zoe turned away and began walking quickly, Max spotted her and rushed out. "Zoe!"

She kept walking, unable to face him and sure she was about to be sick.

"Zoe!" Max ran after her and attempted to grab her arm, but she pulled it away and rushed into the bathroom.

Max went to follow her in, but Robyn grabbed his arm. "You can't go in there. What happened?"

Max hesitated, almost telling Robyn, but he wanted Zoe to be the first to know. He was about to try the door again when Connie appeared. "What the hell do you think you're doing? You can't go in there!"

Max glanced at the door, at Connie and then back again. "ZOE! WE HAVE A DAUGHTER!"

From inside the toilet cubicle she could hear the faint call of her husband but couldn't quite make out the words, she thought she'd heard him say that they had a daughter but she was sure it was wishful thinking. From in her bag she heard her phone ringing, after learning that it was Max who was trying to get her attention, she placed the phone back in her bag, sure that he was going to tell her bad news.

...

"Robyn. Go in there. Get her out." Max asked desperately, fearing that his wife was having some sort of breakdown in the toilets.

"They're letting you keep Maddie?" Robyn asked, not quite in reality from the good news.

"Robyn. Zoe." Max ordered, his tone clipped as his patience with his sister wore thin.

"I'll go." Connie finally spoke as Robyn seemingly wasn't able to comprehend the news.

"Zoe, are you in here?" Connie's sharp voice made her jump, but she gave no reply. Sighing, Connie stood in front of the only closed cubicle door. "Zoe? Max is outside, he has some news he wants to share with you."

"I can't do this. I thought I could, but I can't, Connie. I thought when the bad news came that I'd be upset but I'd be okay, but I won't. It's-"

"Zoe, no one said it was bad news. Look...come out."

"Just tell me."

"I can't, Zoe. Max wants to be the one to tell you."

"I can't face him. This is all my fault. I'll be the reason we lose her."

"You haven't lost her, Zoe." Another voice spoke, and it took Zoe a moment to realise it was Sue. "In fact it was our chat this morning that cemented my choice."

"What?" Zoe asked, not sure she quite understood as she slowly unlocked the cubicle she was in and cautiously walked out to the main area of the bathroom.

"She's your daughter Zoe, no one is going to take her away." Sue reassured her and was slightly taken aback as Zoe ran out of the bathroom but smiled when she saw she'd run right into Max's arms.

"We did it, we have a daughter." Zoe squealed as she beamed.

"I'm so proud of you Zoe, I'm so proud of how much you've achieved in the few days that we've had her. I love you so much Mrs Walker." Max told her as he rested his forehead against hers.

"I love you too Mr Walker." Zoe smiled as she closed the gap and kissed him.

"I'm sorry to interrupt but I need you to sign some forms to confirm the adoption." Sue reminded them.

Zoe immediately pulled away, but Max pulled her back to kiss her once more before they followed Sue back to Zoe's office.

Zoe signed the papers without reading them, but Max read them all thoroughly and even insisted on getting the hospitals lawyer to check them to make sure there was no way Maddie could be taken from them. When Zoe finally got back to the crèche almost an hour had passed. Maddie was still sat with her friend playing happily with some toys, but when she saw Zoe, her face lit up and she half crawled half walked towards Zoe, eager to get to her as quickly as she could.

"Mama." Maddie stated simply as Zoe scooped her up into her arms.

"Yeah. That's your mama." Max told her happily as he hugged both of them.

"She's been good, we just need you to sign these medical forms and pay a small amount if you intend for her to start here properly." Caitlin smiled as she walked over to them.

"We do, is Monday okay?" Zoe asked, unable to stop smiling as the forms were laid in front of them.

"Of course, she seems to fit in very well here." Caitlin reassured them.

As Max filled in the forms and for the first time wrote Maddie Walker, he couldn't stop the tears that began to glitter in his eyes.


End file.
